Against the World
by FireStorm1991
Summary: Fifth part of the Power Struggle series, second part of the crossover series. Now that all the secrets are out, it seems like the entire universe is against both the spirit detective gang and the Saiyans. Between space tyrants, androids, demons, and more, peace seems very far away. (First chapter is extensive prologue summarizing past stories so there's no need to backtrack)
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ, YYH, or the characters. Just my OCs

So, as I start the fifth part of this story, the second part of the crossover world, I felt it necessary to do another detailed prologue, but even more detailed that the last story, for I'm hoping to cameo some more characters and have them play a bigger role than in the past stories. So I decided to go back and read every story to get this prologue written. I hope you enjoy it. It will help, also, for those who haven't read the previous stories. :) Nice time saver, if you will, plus a way to avoid reading the stories I worked on when I first came to FFN (not as good a quality as my stories now…^^). So yeah, this will be the longest prologue I have ever written XD

It will be separated into 4 sections: the first will include the events of the story, Power Struggle, and following will be Reikai Conspiracy, and The Hunted. The last part of the prologue will be a transition into the current story while recapping the events of Side Story: Sibling Ties, the fourth part of the series.

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A few years prior of the inevitable reunion between siblings, a college student and her friends found themselves with unusual powers. These girls were Kaiya Ishii, Mikazuki Midorikawa, and Suki Kawai. The psychic, Kaiya Ishii, age 18, found herself unable to control her powers due to her fear, anger, and other emotional outburst. She had the power of the burning flame, and she grew concerned that she may one day hurt someone she cared about, especially her younger, former step-sister, Sui Araki, age 17, who was staying with her due to family drama with Sui's father and step-father back home in America, as requested by Sui's mother.

The other 18 year old, Mika, lacked the concentration and focus to control her power of shadows. She would find herself sinking into the ground at random, when walking or just sitting outside. She would be lucky if there was something to grab onto each time her power activated. With another power linked to concentration and consciousness, Suki, age 19, also struggled. She had the power of illusions, and it would always go out of control when she was distracted. She would watch a scary movie, or even her favorite AVP, Predator, and Alien movies and cause the creatures to appear as she dozed off in class. That alone caused danger for her and everyone around her, for she didn't know how to turn her powers off.

These three girls had finally had enough.

Using one of their breaks, they decided to find the psychic, Genkai, Mika had read about online. Kaiya was desperate for any way to control her powers, fearful she'd harm her step-sister by accident. The three marine biology students then packed up Suki's SUV and headed for Genkai's, but not before Kaiya and Sui had a disagreement, Sui accusing the older girl of being mad at her which disheartened Kaiya.

The trip was not completely in vain, however.

After some good-natured fun at Kaiya's expense (mainly, Suki creating the illusion of a mouse to freak the fire wielder out), they climbed the long flight of stairs located in the middle of nowhere. When they reached the top, the elderly master introduced met them. Kaiya was very distrustful of the stranger, so Mika acted as the voice of the group. This is where they met the guys who would help them learn to control their powers: Yusuke Urameshi, Kazuma Kuwabara, Kurama, Hiei, Jin, and Touya. It didn't bother the girls that these people were actually demons, though Kaiya had already gotten off on the wrong foot with Hiei. The girls even met Yukina, and Kurama assisted Kaiya giving her a black, stone ring that would suppress her fire powers until she could finally take control.

This caused Kaiya to trust them a little better, and she was ready to learn and train, but that was when she received the phone call that Sui had been in an accident and was at the hospital due to having an asthma attack. The girls left to make sure Sui was okay and, in the chaos of leaving, forgot their bags. Seeing as Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama also lived in the university town, they decided to return their things, the other demons accompanying them.

When the guys arrived, Kaiya had already been with her sister and had found out that someone had purposefully run girl's friend's mother off the road. Sui had been panicking because of this guy chasing them, though they had no idea who it could be. Since the girl's would be spending more time with these guys, Kaiya was slightly okay with Sui meeting them. Maybe it was to give an explanation to their disappearance, maybe it was to clear her conscious, or maybe it was just the shock of the day taking its toll. Whatever the reason, the usually distrusting girl had allowed it.

Everyone but Hiei had entered the room, and Sui was happy to meet Kaiya's friends. She found Kurama, who was introduced to her as Shuichi, the most interesting. No one knew it at the time, but Sui was excellent at reading people, which later played a part in the grand scheme of things. The guys spent the day learning about their new charges, mainly that caffeine was like a drug to the girls, one that Kaiya tried to avoid. Hiei, though, had other plans and instead questioned Sui on whoever had been following them which Kaiya was angered by. This led to the girl demanding to talk to the fire demon, and the two of them having a blowout of words outside the hospital.

The anger Kaiya held towards the fire demon was still just as strong weeks later, though she was at least able to spend more time around Sui. At the same time, Kurama had come to check on the girl's each week, mainly to check on Sui's recovery. That day, when he showed up, Hiei had also been with him. Kaiya did her best to avoid him, not wanting to fight or alert her sister to her issues. Kurama and Sui compared the two fire wielders attitudes and behaviors, which Hiei overheard. Aggravated, he looked around the place feeling like he was in a prison and stumbling across Kaiya who didn't seem to notice him as she cooked.

Eventually, Kaiya had come out to find Kurama without Sui. She asked where she had went, and even Kurama didn't know for he had stepped out of the room. An angry voice alerted them to Sui's and Hiei's presence outside. Sui looked afraid, and Hiei was livid. There was a shattered in between them.

When Kaiya asked what was going on, Sui ducked behind her. Hiei made it clear that it wouldn't save the human, for he had no qualms about attacking either of them. Kaiya told Sui to go back inside, which Hiei strangely allowed. She then threatened Hiei if he ever decided to cause harm to his sister, which the fire demon found laughable. The arrogant demon had momentarily let his guard down, giving Kaiya the opening for a sneak attack, a single kick that surprisingly had a lot of strength behind it. Hiei then began fighting the psychic seriously, the two fire wielders getting hits in, though Kaiya was receiving the most damage. Though Kaiya was defeated after a strong blow was landed, she was laughing. Hiei had thought she lost her mind, but the truth was she had never fought like that in her lifetime, and she had enjoyed it.

Kaiya knew she had to tell Sui what was going on after they had been caught fighting. Sui had accepted it, and even went to Genkai's with Kaiya after that. Kaiya and Hiei still continued their "heated arguments," as their friends like to call them. Hiei would seek her out when he was pissed about something, and Kaiya would end up equally as irritated. Though she was the one who usually was injured in their fights, it never stopped her from instigating the fire demon.

The girls' presence at the compound had certainly livened things up. Sui and Kurama spent more time together, and eventually found out that her ability to read people well was the precursor to her mind reading abilities. Mika and Suki would play pranks on Kuwabara using their abilities. Kaiya and Hiei would fight and wreck the landscaping. Genkai had had enough of it.

After a huge fight occurred between the fire psychic and fire demon, Genkai had ended it. The two went their separate ways, Kaiya into the forest that unbeknownst to her was full of demons. What had started the fight? Well, Kaiya had gotten herself into an embarrassing situation, namely stuck in a tree and too afraid to jump down. Hiei offered help, but she instantly went on the defensive. The fact that Hiei had seen her in a weak moment, had seen her fear, did not sit right with her. Hiei didn't care what the reasoning was behind her attitude, and was angered by it.

Later, though, he found out that the girl was all talk. She fought him, yes, but he overheard that she was fearful of fighting others, for whatever reason. He went to find her in the forest, and he had found her but the girl hid as soon as she heard someone. It was a foolish move on her part considering there had been another man-bat had been watching the psychic and grabbed her when he had the chance. It had been lucky for her that Hiei had been there, but she did not show him gratitude.

The fire demon was able to see through her guise of false confidence now that he knew the truth. He asked her why she always fought him despite not liking to fight which took the girl aback. She lied for the sake of hiding the fact that she liked him and felt comfortable fighting with him. They would find out, many years later, that her fake confidence was a way to keep her pride intact, she didn't like to fight because she feared her own power despite knowing the opponent could do far worse, or that she fought Hiei because she was bonding with him.

But before any of that could happen, their friends decided to set them up on a date. Sui knew her sister would never admit her feelings for the fire demon. She was always so stubborn, so she sometimes needed a push. They used tricks and lies to get Hiei and Kaiya in the same spot, a spot on the beach where they had set up a dinner.

Angered by the setup, Hiei and Kaiya spent most of the time thinking on how to get back at their so called friends. Hiei's thoughts were more brutal than Kaiya's, but they eventually settled on tricking and scaring the hell out of their friends and setting them up, just as they had tricked Hiei and scared Kaiya making her think her sister was in danger. It had been the start of an interesting partnership, to say the least, but all it served to do was push their friends/comrades together, and surprisingly get Yusuke in trouble with his girlfriend. This was also around the time that Kaiya figured out that Yukina was Hiei's sister, and she now had his secret to protect. That didn't stop the curious girl from trying to get more information.

While Mika and Suki were still learning to control their powers as well as dealing with their strange relationships with the wind and ice master, Kurama and Sui were spending even more time together, as were Hiei and Kaiya, though it was still under the guise of combat, thought training as opposed to continuously beating the crap out of each other. One day, she went to Genkai's compound alone, to see him this time, but she didn't want to let onto it. He assumed something had happened with her power and brought her into the darkest part of the forest, a place that made her fearful for she could not handle being in the pitch-black darkness. The girl was scared, of the dark, the fact that she released more energy than she thought, and of whatever she was feeling for the fire demon. He grabbed her from behind as her flames started flaring out of control, telling her not to focus on her doubts and fears but to push them aside. If she could do that, she could get full control of her abilities.

Mika and Suki were curious as to what their friend was up to, going to Genkai's multiple times during the week. They were nosy humans by nature, and so they followed Kaiya there one day only to find that she had been going to spend time with Hiei, after seeing the two spar with each other for a while. It angered the wielder of the burning flames that her friends would go behind her back and follow her. It lead to the psychics having an argument, and Genkai's attention, yet again, being brought to the childish antics.

It was then that the elderly psychic placed some restrictions on her former and current students. They had turned her temple into ring of emotions where they were focusing more on relationships than they were on actual training. She mandated that the girls could date whoever they wanted, but that their relationships with those who were training them needed to be strictly professional. They weren't allowed to use their powers to get back at each other or play pranks, for their powers were unstable. Kaiya had to stop skipping her training sessions with Genkai, though Genkai knew full well that she was getting her training from someone else. The girls were also not allowed to show up on their school days to "fraternize," as the woman called it. The psychic believed that if her trainees continued down the paths they were choosing, their relationship drama would lead to issues during future trials, and that was something that could get them all killed.

Of course, not everyone listened to Genkai. Everyone still saw each other outside of training, just not at the temple. Kaiya had told Hiei she didn't want to lose someone that she actually trusted, and Hiei was fine going against Genkai's rules for he was not tied to her in any way. After all, he had only stuck around to keep an eye on Yukina and aid his former teammates with any problems that arose. He was not Genkai's student, nor did he work for her. His and Kaiya's training continued, only now Kaiya did attend her sessions with Genkai.

Kurama and Sui continued to date, though they hadn't yet become official, hiding it from Genkai. It was easy for them to appear indifferent in front of the psychic. Being a thousand year old demon fox had its perks, and being able to read Kaiya's mind gave Sui excellent acting tips while in front of their master. Mika still spent time with Jin, and Suki with Touya, as well. Though, those relationships were not so much as relationships at the moment.

Kaiya and Sui held a pool party at Kaiya's apartment complex, as the summer was starting and the two would be returning to America to visit their families for a couple months. Mika asked them how they'd be able to deceive their families, which alerted the girls to the fact that they hadn't really thought that through. But the girl's made it through, and two months later they were back in Japan.

Before the reunion, drama ensued. For one, Sui's mother wanted her back in America, not even listening in regards to Sui's boyfriend of a different religious background. In addition to that, Kaiya, upon returning home, had received a letter from a long lost twin she had known nothing about, and who evidently found her through social media. Mika and Suki had found Kaiya after she fainted from reading such an outlandish story. The letter had said that this girl, Mayonaka, would be visiting Japan in a month, and it had been a month since the letter had arrived.

The reunion was just as full of tension, for Suki had shown up with her new boyfriend, Orochi, who she had known from back home. It had taken everyone by surprise. At the same time, Jin was affected by Mika avoiding him and just not acting the same. Sui was still upset that her mother wanted her back home, and Kurama was not too entirely thrilled with that himself, or the fact that the psychic was so upset that she couldn't even use her powers. After a while, Hiei had not shown up, and Kaiya was starting to feel a little down, but then was knocked down by the fire demon unexpectedly, who was raring to fight her and goaded her saying he hoped that two months away hadn't softened her. It was then that another girl appeared, one that looked strangely like Kaiya. Kaiya was just as shocked as everyone else, having hoped the letter was some sort of a joke, but she couldn't deny that she had a twin looking back at her.

Hiei did not trust the Kaiya lookalike. Not only was she the complete opposite of her sister, with different likes and interests…and even in attitude, but she also showed up out of the blue and tried to play it off as a random coincidence. She didn't even flinch when he glared at her, and it just bothered him that she looked so much like someone he did actually trust. Mayonaka had also gained Kurama's cynicism. The fox didn't believe her story in how she located Kaiya. And they were right not to trust the twin, for she had indeed been sent by someone to cause difficulties for the former spirit detectives.

Kaiya, though off put by the appearance of her twin, was still able to think of a way to convince Sui's mother to let her stay. Once the woman met Kurama, Kaiya was sure it wouldn't matter his families religious background. The plan worked, for Sui's mother liked everything she was hearing. Mayonaka, of course, tagged along, and once the plan worked, she tried emphasizing to the group that Kaiya was her sister and not Sui's. No one took liking to that, least of all Kurama who stood up for his girlfriend. Mayonaka stormed off in anger, and Kaiya decided to follow her.

It was then where Kaiya found out that her sister was not what she appeared to be. Yes, she was a brat, but she was also dangerous. She heard her talking to someone on the phone saying that she had been planning to target all of them. Then, Mayonaka had revealed that she was going to target Kaiya first, instead of Sui, and also target her "boyfriend," at which point Kaiya and Hiei had not yet even been dating. Of course, Mayonaka didn't know much about them to begin with.

Hiei had also followed, but he had not been privy to the phone conversation and heard Mayonaka and Kaiya having an altercation. It sounded like the stranger intended to somehow steal him away, but in actuality Mayonaka was threatening Kaiya with Hiei's life, and followed that up by threatening everyone's lives if Kaiya told anyone what they had discussed. Then the evil twin admitted that her abilities opposed Kaiya's as well, with the control of water.

Kaiya had been a panicked wreck following the conversation. Nightmares plagued her all night of her doppelgänger hurting Hiei, whom she still didn't know what he was to her. Hiei had been the one to wake her and tried to coax the psychic into telling him the truth, but Kaiya refused and instead told him she would be seeing Genkai that day instead of getting together with their group. Before Hiei left, she made him promise not to trust Mayonaka regardless of the girl being her twin. He assured her that he wouldn't, especially when he hardly trusted anyone to begin with.

Hiei ended up telling Kaiya's friends that she was sick, and Mayonaka chose that moment to show up, pretending to be the psychic they knew so well. Hiei could see right through the act, as could the mind reader Sui and the thousand year old fox demon who could read body and facial cues. Still, she figured she could act enough like Kaiya to trick them all, and she was dead wrong.

Mayonaka believed Kaiya and Hiei to be a traditional couple, and everyone they knew was aware that Kaiya would never randomly hug the fire demon, especially in public. The water psychic did just that. But of course, some people in the group had not officially realized that it wasn't Kaiya. Mika especially just thought that their friend had lost her mind being sick, and was maybe just delirious when she called Hiei "sweetie." Mika suggested that maybe Kaiya had had A LOT of caffeine and was simply just going through the motions they all did when they got hyped up on the stuff. But Hiei knew the truth, and he followed the twin as she walked away, and Kurama followed behind him while the others just let them go.

Meanwhile, Kaiya really had gone to Genkai for advice. Genkai listened to her story, mentally commenting on how there always has to be some "damn evil long lost twin," and pointed out that this was exactly why she instilled those rules. Now someone Kaiya cared about was being used against her, and the only way to get out of this would be to fight her twin. Kaiya was hesitant, but Genkai said she'd help her defeat this twin. The older woman held her hand out for the suppression ring, and Kaiya finally took it off. The young psychic asked what she could do, and Genkai answered with one word, "Fight."

When Hiei found Mayonaka, she was admiring the ocean, acting a little bit more like Kaiya would be staring into the waves, but he had already known the truth and she could not fool him. At that moment, Mayonaka tried to flirt her way to tricking him, asking if he'd go out with her. Hiei denied her, darkly and menacingly questioning why he would have anything to do with her. Kurama, watching from a distance now had his suspicions confirmed that the girl was indeed Mayonaka. He was ready to aid his friend if it came down to it.

Mayonaka continued with the charade, acting emotional and overbearing, but when Hiei revealed that he knew who she was, she finally dropped the act. She was surprised that he had figured it out, but Hiei pointed out that the girl knew nothing of his and Kaiya's relationship and how they acted with one another. Clearly, it wasn't being the clingy girlfriend type. Kaiya arrived just in time to hear Hiei tell her sister off and demand she leave her alone. It was the first time Hiei had really said anything nice about her or defended her, and it took the fire psychic by surprise. Mayonaka took advantage of the momentary shock between the two fire wielders and caused a wave to overpower them, sweeping Hiei away into the dark waters. Kaiya realized that she needed to fight, remembering Genkai's word from earlier that day. The elderly woman told her that she needed to let go of whatever was holding her back, a moment from her past that her friends would learn a few years later, and that she could fight. If she was fearing killing her opponent, than she didn't have to kill her twin, as long as she defeated her. If she didn't fight, her twin _would_ kill those she cared about, and Kaiya did not want that to happen.

Kurama found Hiei in the water. He hadn't been so caught off-guard that he couldn't survive Mayonaka's sneak attack. Still, they made no move to reveal themselves. Hiei wanted to see how far Kaiya had come and how she would react to this situation. Kaiya, however upset she was by this altercation, took a chance at the first opening she saw. She used everything she had learned from both Genkai and Hiei, and attacked and defended when necessary. It had been her first real fight and, although she was getting seriously injured, Mayonaka was as well and was the first to fall. It had taken Mayonaka by surprise, how strong her sister was considering the one who sent her had assured the girl that Kaiya would be weaker. It was after Mayonaka lied defeated on the sand that Kaiya knew she had the power to make the finishing move, but she couldn't kill her sister. Her moral code was strong, and she just couldn't do it. Hiei, however, finally revealed himself and was about to end Mayonaka himself, but Kaiya stopped him, begging him to spare her sister before she passed out in his arms. Reluctantly, Hiei sheathed his sword, respecting Kaiya's wishes. That did not mean that Mayonaka was off the hook.

Both Kaiya and Mayonaka were being treated at the hospital for their injuries. Hiei snuck away from the others to go and see Kaiya, checking her wounds for himself. Despite being emotional and in pain, Kaiya was so happy to see that Hiei was okay, though seeing him reminded her of her sister and what happened on the beach. Hiei assured Kaiya that Mayonaka was fine, that he had done as the fire psychic had asked and let her twin live. After the two had a small moment, Kaiya fell back to sleep leaning against Hiei's arm.

Hiei pulled away from Kaiya and crossed the room to observe Mayonaka, glaring at her unconscious and broken form. But Mayonaka had been awake and teased the fire demon saying that her sister must have really loved him, and then she accused him of feeling the same way. He was angered by her words, but he did want answers, so he questioned Mayonaka's motives, and Mayonaka revealed she wasn't working alone.

The one who sent her had been the one who had gone after Sui earlier in the year. The man's goal had been to rid the world of the spirit detective gang and any demons or psychics who got in his way. He had wanted Sui's ability to gain more information, on what Hiei did not know. Her friend was in a prison, though, so Hiei believed her actions to be her own and that her confession was meant to mislead him. Sui, though, had read the girl's mind and assured him that she was not lying. Sui also read that Mayonaka was being forced, misleading the one she was working with for deeper, personal reasons. The mind reader assured Mayonaka that she could fight with the instead of against them, leading Mayonaka to have an emotional breakdown at realizing just how much wrong she had done. Hiei still wasn't convinced, and he so he left before he did something he'd regret, going against Kaiya's wishes.

Everyone was worried for their friend. Mika had been the one to call Suki to the hospital. Suki had shown up with Orochi, who seemed to be trying to get information. Mika was suspicious of his intentions, but let it go since he didn't know anything about their friends or any of their abilities. Mika confronted Suki, later at their apartment, about bringing Orochi around when he didn't know anything, and Suki admitted that she planned to tell him the truth about all of them soon. This angered Mika because whereas Suki felt fine telling him about them, everyone else did not feel the same. Suki didn't have the right to make decisions that affected everyone.

Touya also confronted Suki about her relationship, and Suki pointed out that the major reason why she started dating this guy, whom she had known since high school, was because of Genkai's warnings. She revealed that Mika had chosen the same with the wind master, to not have a distraction. Touya, accepting Mika's choices, did not accept Suki's. He pointed out that he didn't like how Orochi had treated her at the reunion. The guy had acted really possessive and controlling, but Suki denied his claims. Suki sent the ice demon away, and felt very alone in that moment.

Kaiya woke up later that evening to both her twin and Sui seemingly getting along, and was informed about everything, and also about Mayonaka switching sides. She wondered where Hiei had gone, the others informing he had left most likely due to his anger towards Mayonaka. Mayonaka knew she deserved it, but felt wary about what Hiei would do to her later. Kurama assured her that he wouldn't go after someone Kaiya cared about, especially her twin, causing Sui to overhear a thought suggesting Hiei had a twin sister. Kaiya was astonished to find out that Hiei and Yukina were twins and resolved to find out more about their situation. She mentally made the decision to go to Yukina since she hadn't been able to get Hiei to open up about his past.

Hiei had returned to Genkai's compound, to which the psychic had appeared and pointed out that she had tried to steer everyone away from crap like the confusing emotions he and Kaiya were feeling. It irritated Hiei to hear someone who had known the team so well point something out that he hadn't been willing to admit.

Once both Kaiya and Mayonaka were out of the hospital, Hiei was displeased to learn that Mayonaka was moving in with Kaiya and Sui. While all their friends were over, it had been awkward and everyone had been nervous. The fire demon basically made it clear that he would never trust or accept Mayonaka. Kaiya wasn't entirely happy with that, but she understood. With her own trust issues, she could empathize with his. Despite knowing of his trust issues, Kaiya had made the stupid mistake of going behind his back to learn about his past from Yukina (without letting on that she knew who her brother was).

Hiei didn't react well to that.

At first he didn't understand why she was crying when he found her at their private training spot on the beach. When she had told him she spoke to Yukina, he felt rage well up inside him, demanding to know what she had told Yukina. As she spoke, he realized that she had continued to keep his secret nor had she gone with malicious intent. Still, he used his anger to cover his pain from his past and his confusion. He directed his anger towards her, asking why she had gone behind his back, and the fire psychic admitted to caring about him. Though he understood her intentions, he was still angered and moved to leave, but she tackled him trying to prevent him from leaving. He attacked her, injuring her slightly, but she refused to let him go telling him she didn't want him to be alone. Not understanding her pathetic display and the fact that she could still care about him after he injured her, he reluctantly agreed to go with her.

The fire demon felt strange allowing himself to surrender to the comfort Kaiya seemed to provide him. It was even stranger to him that she cared. Despite his apprehension, however, he had started to feel a sense of peace plus relief at the fact that someone else knew. But even the momentary peace had to be ruined when Mika called into Kaiya's room and reminded Hiei of what was going on. He moved to leave, but Kaiya pleaded with him to stay and not run away from his emotions. She claimed she understood him, but he didn't believe it until she confessed something to him that even her friend did not know.

Kaiya too had been abandoned, though not to the same extent as Hiei. Her father had abandoned her, ignoring her and pretending she didn't exist. She couldn't see her younger half-brother because of it, and had acted out like he did. In her past, she had been slightly violent and that was why her fighting terrified her, because it reminded her of a dark place in her life she tried to forget. Hiei was confused in how someone could be so much like him, but as emotional as she was. Emotions made him feel weak, and her tears reminded him of his own shortcomings. Not knowing how to process his own emotions, he left her alone making her believe he hadn't understood and that he was done with her too. All the while he needed to unleash energy. He did not like the fact that some human girl was making him go soft.

At the beach, Mika and Mayonaka had teamed up to find a way to get Touya and Suki talking on the beach and orchestrated that Orochi would show up and show his true colors. That's where Suki admitted she was only dating Orochi as a distraction from not being able to be with Touya. It led to a fight between the human and demon where the ice master had used his power to prevent the human from causing more harm to himself by attacking. Orochi was brought to Genkai's where Hiei had been, and the guys were getting him to erase the part of Orochi's memory about Touya's abilities. The inevitable breakup between Suki and Orochi occurred, and the angered human stormed off having something else in mind for the group.

Orochi showed up at Kaiya's place, thinking her to be weak enough to target. He found her outside alone and crying, and he used that to his advantage. He acted as her shoulder to cry on and then offered to take her somewhere to forget her problems since she was his girlfriend's best friend. Kaiya accepted the offer being too emotional to even think straight, a trait she would not lose in the many years to come.

Apparently Hiei had been paying attention to where Orochi was going and showed up before he could take Kaiya anywhere. He had known that Orochi wanted revenge on their group for humiliating him, and hurting Kaiya would have definitely caused upheaval. Kaiya didn't know what to think when she saw Hiei knock Orochi out, and when he looked at her she was fearful of what he had intended to do. Hiei approached her slowly, upset by her apprehensive reaction towards his presence, and let go of his pride pulling her into a hug for reassurance. Kaiya had hugged him back, having not been afraid _of_ him but of how he'd react to the situation. He told her that he wouldn't let Orochi hurt her, for she didn't deserve to be manipulated. Though Kaiya was confused as to what exactly was going on, she trusted that Hiei's words were honest. They called for help for Orochi and then left the scene, hoping to never see him again.

With all of the drama out of the way, the girls were back to training. This chapter of their lives ended with their graduation matches, each girl successfully overcoming one of the guys. Kaiya had more control over her powers, mainly because she was starting to have more control over her emotions, or at least control over using her flames when emotional. Suki still hadn't fully mastered her powers, but she was getting there. Genkai could no longer help her with her abilities. Her issues, she would need to handle them on her own. Mika, on the other hand, learned how to use the shadows in new ways, even to store weapons in them. Her power was definitely the strangest. And then you had Sui, the one who hadn't even realized she had a power to begin with. It was something she could control, thanks to Kurama teaching her how to keep her focus. Everything had went well, but that still left another loose end.

Mayonaka was still hanging around, and she acted more like a child with every passing day.

Kaiya had decided Mayonaka should train with Genkai, seeing as her powers were not always perfectly in control. Besides, the girl needed the discipline that came along with Genkai's teachings. Though Mayonaka hated the idea, she accepted it. Kaiya also decided to instill some house rules regarding her twin, for now she had to act more like a mother than the girl's sister. She allowed Hiei to have some input since he was around a lot more often than not. He took her up on that offer if only to get payback on the brat without actually hurting her.

Something else took place before Sui's graduation match, a something that had been a long time coming. The group had searched the city for the couple, but Hiei and Kaiya had found Sui and Kurama sitting in their private beach training spot for which Sui had secretly read the location. Kurama had silently asked the psychic to be his girlfriend and the two shared a kiss. Hiei had been sickened by the display and caused steam to appear around the couple who found his reaction priceless. Kaiya too found his reaction hysterical and suggested they return to Genkai's and finish the matches.

The next school year had started, and Sui was intending the university for botany like Kurama had been. It was during this semester that the anniversary of their first date came and went. That was the day Kurama had proposed to Sui, and she had happily accepted. In addition to studying at the university and getting engaged, she was also studying to become a professional Go player, a game she had learned inside and out thanks to her fiancé. That game had played an integral part of teaching her focus and reading an opponent's moves. The group celebrated that night which led to some drinking on Yusuke's and Hiei's parts, leading Hiei to do some very uncharacteristic things.

First of all, he and Kaiya had basically accepted their feelings sometime after the incident with Orochi. She had accepted him as her boyfriend, and he accepted that she was present in his life. After the drinking competition between him and the detective, he had whispered something in Kaiya's ear making the girl blush before he passed out on her lap. During a future mission, he would demand to know what happened at that party, only because the people in their group kept bringing it up. Kaiya would try to avoid discussing it only for Hiei's benefit. After all, it had been a pretty cute and emotional moment, and the two of them usually kept any moments between them to themselves in private. They didn't need to express PDAs like all of their friends did, anyway.

After graduating, Hiei would still train Kaiya. She even attempted technique where she would tap into the darkness flame, but she could never get the hang of it. Hiei had warned her before ever attempting to teach her, but Kaiya hadn't cared, so he let her learn the hard way. Any time she tried to access the energy, her entire body felt like it was on fire and all of her blood migrated to one spot in her body. Their sessions would end when the nosebleeds started. Hiei was always very amused when it came to that. Eventually, Kaiya stopped trying to access the power to his most powerful technique.

It was the times that Mayonaka acted like a whiny brat that Hiei wished she acted as she did when they first met her. When Kaiya instilled her rules, mainly rules that would keep Mayonaka in line, the girl had acted like a toddler. It had aggravated the fire demon so much that he happily added his own conditions, one that she stopped pissing him off. Also that she never turn on them, or she'd die a slow and painful death. Mayonaka froze at the latter condition, and the threat he had given. Though she had joined their side, she knew one day she might have to go back on her decision. There would be a day where she would turn on them, if only to save someone she truly cared for.

* * *

Another semester had gone by and it was the first day back from winter break. Kaiya had been driven to the brink of insanity by Mayonaka's behavior, and was late in returning to Genkai's to visit their friends. Her sister had been skipping classes and running around town with some friends more often than not. One thing that could be said was that the girl was no longer their enemy, but she was still running Kaiya into the ground. Sui had been staying with Kurama since she, Kaiya, and Mayonaka had returned from their trip back home. Though she felt guilty for leaving Kaiya to deal with Mayonaka, she was happy that she was away from the chaos. Meanwhile, Mika and Suki had moved into a new apartment off campus that was much closer to Kaiya and Sui. Everyone was supposed to meet at Genkai's that night just as a small reunion.

Mayonaka would be training there for the weekend, and Kaiya hoped she'd be ready, but of course she wasn't and was even more delayed in getting over there. Finally, though, she and her twin made an appearance, and Suki was amazed that someone took longer than her to pack anything. Kaiya was relieved when Mayonaka went to talk to Genkai, because she had news to tell her friends. She was not a permanent citizen of Japan and she didn't intend on going anywhere when school was over. She knew she'd always be able to visit her family anyway, and vice versa.

The better news was that if Mayonaka couldn't get her act together, she would be going to live with their mother. Not that that hadn't been an emotional reunion from the start, but Mayonaka's attitude and behavior had shone through. Hers and Kaiya's mother had agreed to give her one more chance, but if she refused to take things more seriously, she would be forced to stay with their mother until she did. Thankfully, though, Kaiya wouldn't need to worry about Mayonaka skipping Genkai's sessions, for Genkai had already had a solution. She had a bird that could track Mayonaka's aura, and when Mayonaka found out she lashed out at Kaiya who was able to pin her down and warn her not to attack her again. Mayonaka could tell her sister was serious and was nervous of the glare Kaiya had given her, but she shrugged it off when Kaiya let her go.

And moments later, Koenma, the prince of the Spirit World, had shown up.

Apparently, Koenma had lost track of a very powerful demon that he had had locked up in the Spirit World prison. He was a fire demon who was now in Human World recruiting human psychics to take down the Reikai realm. Mayonaka had overheard and asked Koenma to confirm that the demon that escaped was a fire demon. When he did, he asked the human girl why she wanted to know, and she denied there being a reason, but neither Kaiya, Hiei, Sui, nor Kurama bought the girl's lie. They knew something was up, and they were determined to get answers.

Later, Hiei accompanied Kaiya and Mayonaka back to their apartment. He had fallen asleep on the couch when Kaiya went to check on Mayonaka. The water psychic seemed to be writing in a notebook, and Kaiya was impressed that she was doing schoolwork. She had left Mayonaka alone, not letting her know that she was there before she retreated to her own room for rest. If she had stayed a moment longer, she would have heard her twin's voice crack as she asked herself why, after a year, had this all needed to happen, just when everything was calming down. She knew who the demon was that Koenma had wanted the detectives to find and, knowing her sister and her friends, they would be right in the middle of it all. She kept writing the word conspiracy in Greek over and over, for Mayonaka had been raised in Greece, and she knew that Kaiya and her friends would never be able to read the words.

Mayonaka was not a part of the discussion that the group had with Koenma the next day as he gave them all the information for the case. According to Yusuke, Koenma had been withholding information, and that he usually did that when he didn't think the team could handle it. Everyone met up to plan just exactly what they were going to do. The information Koenma gave them narrowed their search down to a handful of towns, so everyone left in groups of two to the five towns. But figuring out who went to which town wasn't the only thing they did. Kaiya had returned home and went into Mayonaka's horrific room where she found her twin's diary.

The first thing she did was contact Kurama. She informed her future brother-in-law of her distrust towards Mayonaka, and Hiei's as well. Kurama had told her that he and Sui also noticed changes in the water psychic's disposition since this case had been brought to their attention. The next day, Kaiya went to the temple with Mika and Suki if only to discuss the pages she had scanned and e-mailed to Kurama the night before. She hoped that he'd be able to figure out what her entries said. He had warned her that he knew Latin and had only dabbled in Greek some time during his lifetime. It had to be enough.

Mika, Suki, and Kaiya spent a little time reflecting on the fact that the year prior they had gone to Genkai's in order to learn to control their powers. Now, they actually knew what they were doing…for the most part. The group was spending the night there just to discuss their plans of action. That night, Kaiya got together with Hiei, Sui, and Kurama, and the fox explained that where he couldn't translate most of the words, he gathered that she was writing about her family and friends, and that she was talking about a conspiracy, but none of what he said meant much to Kaiya. She and Mayonaka never talked about where she was raised or anyone she had known save the guy she was working for when she showed up. The four agreed that they needed to get answers from Mayonaka. It was suggested by Hiei that they try to get Mayonaka drunk, seeing as she would be freer in giving out the information they wanted. Where Kaiya was not really happy with the idea, she figured that they didn't have much of a choice.

The plan had worked, and Mayonaka had given them the information they were looking for. Firstly, she had admitted her sorrow at going after her sister. She had always assumed that Kaiya, somewhere along the line, had done something to anger her friend. From what Mayonaka said, the demon that befriended her had admitted to doing bad things, but that he had been trying to change. Eventually the Reikai Tantei, or spirit detectives, would be after him. The demon grew to like humans, but still wanted to take down the Reikai Tantei. Thought Spirit World hadn't really done much to this demon, Mayonaka explained it's what they _would have done_ that caused her friend to conspire. She also revealed that she was afraid to choose sides, that she didn't want to turn against the demon or against her sister and her friends. Kaiya assured her that she wouldn't have to fight on either side. The night ended with Mayonaka finally giving up the name of the demon. His name was Kiense.

The first part of the mission, everyone planned on scouting their respective cities, though Kaiya and Hiei took a little bit longer than the others. Hiei was trying to teach Kaiya more techniques with sword fighting. Though she was learning, she still had a ways to go. They had a minor disagreement where Hiei had simply called her "baka onna." The human took offense for she believed him to be pointing out that she was a woman and that was why he was calling her stupid. She told him not to call her that again, not knowing that one day "onna" would be his nickname for her and her alone.

They two fire wielders decided to scout the town, as the plan had called for, though Hiei was not thrilled with the task. Kaiya was okay with it since she was good at the analyzing and strategizing part of missions. Considering she had never actually had a mission, to Hiei's knowledge, he didn't know whether or not to put any weight into her comments and just continued stretching out his senses to find their target. Eventually, the fire demon did sense something down an alleyway. Kaiya tried to stop him from going, suggesting they contact the others, but Hiei shook her off of him and continued on his way. The psychic couldn't argue with him, but she refused to let him go alone.

It was a bad decision on both their parts.

They had actually found Kiense, and he found amusement in the fact that Kaiya formed a shield when he attacked in attempts to protect herself and a demon. He called the humans interesting, yet pathetic and weak, which led the defiant psychic to point out that Kiense was using humans as weapons, to which he said they had impressionable minds. He implied that they were easy to control, especially when they didn't know what Reikai was. The humans he recruited believed demons to be evil, as well as whoever was helping them. He stated that they weren't smart enough to figure out he was a demon.

Hiei realized that Kiense was just trying to keep them distracted, which apparently worked with Kaiya because she was still trying to get information from him. When he tried to draw her attention away from her questioning, Kiense informed them that the building was rigged to explode. He disappeared from their viewpoint, and Hiei couldn't sense his demon energy until it was used on Kaiya. Kiense used his powers to burn the spot between her neck and left shoulder, her dominant hand, and then disappeared again leaving Hiei to deal with his injured girlfriend. Hiei had gotten them both out before the abandoned warehouse exploded before he could get a good look at her burn. It looked bad enough, but he knew she'd heal. Now that the immediate danger was over, Kaiya questioned the fire demon as to why he took off to find Kiense on his own, and he informed her that Kiense had been planning to kill her to begin with. Neither of them could figure out why.

Meanwhile, Suki and Touya were being pursued by a phantom. The human psychic hadn't noticed, but when she almost got hurt due to something falling from the sky, Touya was on alert. It could have been his ninja training that made him react that way, but his gut told him that there was someone else combing the streets with them and, whoever it was, was targeting them. They found out who was after them at the Astronomical Observatory. It turned out to be a human boy, Toshi, age fifteen. His ability was to mirror an opponent's abilities. He did not keep their abilities, but while fighting them he could utilize them well. The boy had been misled, truly believing all demons to be evil but, when Suki and Touya had his life in their hands, they released him from it since he allowed them to leave the room he had locked all three of them in. His belief system began to change, despite what his father had told him about the Dark Tournament.

While Yusuke and Kuwabara were scouting out another city, they ran into some old opponents, Kaname Hagiri and Kiyoshi Mitari from the case with Sensui. The detectives informed the other psychics as to what was going on, namely the demon recruiting humans. Being reminded of the time with Sensui, the psychics offered their assistance on the case, not wanting a repeat of the past, feeling that they owed the two detectives for not ending them at the time. Yusuke and Kuwabara accepted the help. After which, they were lost in the city only to stumble across an anomaly, purple flashes in the sky. When they reached that area, they found two ten year old children, Akio and Kiri, twins whose teleportation powers could only work when together. The team learned that these two children were taken in by Kiense before his plans for Spirit World were in effect. The children trusted the man who took them in. The two children were raised by Kiense since they were five years of age.

Kurama and Sui ended up finding a young woman who had the ability to transform into anyone, and she had transformed into Kuronue, Kurama's old thieving partner after Yomi. Enraged that someone would impersonate his deceased partner yet again in his lifetime, Kurama had jumped to attack her. Kurama had almost murdered the girl, but Sui stopped him reminding him that the human psychics didn't know what they were doing. Upon hearing Kurama agree after he said killing the sixteen year old girl wouldn't bring his best friend back, Kurama was informed that the girl's abilities only worked for those who were still living. It was in that moment that Kurama learned Kuronue had survived when they were separated centuries before, and also when the girl, Marissa, Kiense's second-in-command after Mayonaka had left, admitted that she was testing them. She had been suspicious about Kiense weeks before, and wanted to find out if demons were as cold and ruthless as he said and if they would truly betray their closest friends to get ahead. She had also found out he was a demon when she had gotten him intoxicated in order to settle her suspicions.

Jin and Mika had the strangest battle yet. They had to fight copies of themselves produced by some pre-teen girl named Suze. Her ability allowed her to send to or bring people from different realities. The thirteen year old believed she knew what she was doing while fooling around with alternate realities. The fight didn't last long. After all, you should never send copies against the original. As the doubles were defeated, Suze felt pain. When the psychic/demon pair moved to help her, the girl didn't understand why for she assumed them to be bad people like her Master Kiense had told her. Mika tried to explain the situation to the girl, though she wasn't sure what she believed. What Suze did know was that she couldn't take on another psychic and a demon on her own, so she agreed to go with them. Mika was the first to realize that the little girl was just an innocent participant, only joining in on something she didn't understand because she was an outcast.

Kaiya's injury was still fairly substantial, and Hiei didn't know what to do for her. As for tending wounds, he was never an expert, but he was a demon and she was human. He didn't know how to handle first aid supplies that were provided for them. He did try to get her to drink, which she flat out refused. In a small argument about what they intended to do about her injury and the mission, Kaiya pointed out that where Hiei had been training her, he never seriously fought her. She demanded that he train her to really fight, to go 100% on her, which Hiei refused because he feared for her life if he used his full power on her. She was delirious from the pain, so Hiei just chalked it up to nonsense she was spouting. He attempted to end the conversation by saying he could never train her the way she was asking, and Kaiya tried to get him to explain. He was spared revealing any of his emotions when the human passed out from pain and exhaustion.

Marissa had told Kurama and Sui an outlandish tale about how Kiense wasn't the real Kiense. Neither the demon nor the psychic bought it, but Marissa explained that there was a member on the team who could bring counterparts from another reality. The _real_ Kiense hadn't felt like he could stand up to Spirit World, so he wanted a counterpart who could get the job done, a counterpart strong enough to fight the realm if need be. Mayonaka had feelings for the real Kiense and tried to dissuade him from the undertaking, for the Kiense that came out did not share her feelings and was much darker than the one they all knew. They kept that from the children in the group, including the one who switched them, not wanting to alarm any of them. As long as they followed orders, their Kiense and the children would be safe.

The alternate Kiense had grown obsessed with Mayonaka's past, knowing the girl had feelings for the genuine Kiense. He had known she was adopted and learned about her twin sister. The demon had been watching the girl for two years, when Kaiya and her friends developed their powers, and swore Marissa to secrecy on his research. The alternate demon had an obsession with fire wielders and was intrigued when he learned of not only Kaiya, but Hiei as well. He liked to toy with fire wielders, completely different from the Kiense Marissa knew. Kiense's true battle was not against demons and psychics, but against Spirit World and their treatment of demons in general. He intended to use peaceful means, only fighting if necessary. Suze hadn't known that she had brought an evil Kiense to their realm, mainly because the counterpart threatened the thirteen year old's life. Marissa couldn't go through with telling her.

While Marissa was explaining this, Hiei was having difficulties figuring out how to treat Kaiya's wounds. This caused the fire demon to interrupt the meeting and request Kurama's help. All the groups gathered there, not only so that Kaiya could be treated, but to reunite the two teams and unify to take down the alternate Kiense. Before the teams arrived, Kaiya woke up after and was confused as to where she was. Hiei explained that Kurama had treated her and given her some plant for the pain, effectively drugging her. In her haze, she kissed Hiei before falling asleep once again. When everyone did show up, Kaiya woke up again, but this time from a horrible nightmare. She woke up screaming in terror and hugged Hiei who didn't know how to react. Both Kaiya and Hiei had the same dream, though Hiei saw it because he was attuned to Kaiya's mind. Unbeknownst to Kaiya, it was the first vision the psychic ever had, where she had been injured and Hiei had died trying to protect her.

Later after the breakdown, Kaiya and Hiei were alone and she apologized for forcing her emotional behavior on him. He went to let the other's know she was fine. Marissa and Toshi tried to open the lines of communication and explain to the others about Kiense's alternate self. Suze was already made aware of the role she had played in the whole mess, and Akio was stunned that the Kiense he knew wasn't the one to whom they had been serving. When his sister, Kiri, asked if Suze could bring the real Kiense back, she explained that she tried as soon as she was aware, but her powers were blocked from that specific reality. No one knew exactly what the plan would be, but Kaiya, who had difficulty returning to sleep, stated that there was strength in numbers, and they were going to use their numbers to defeat Kiense.

While Mayonaka trained with Genkai, she was reflecting on her past actions. She had followed this Kiense's orders so that he would eventually allow their Kiense to return. When she had quit, she had been troubled by her decision because the demon was now going through with his plans. While running laps unattended, Kiense managed to make contact with the water wielder, taunting her and demanding her assistance. Mayonaka tried to express her neutrality, though Kiense was undeterred and threatened both Kaiya and Suze, and in turn the Kiense Mayonaka had feelings for. Regrettably, she agreed, hoping that either Sui or Hiei would read her mind when the fighting truly began.

The next day marked the teams attempt to defeat Kiense, though Kaiya was hesitant about what could happen. Hiei knew she was concerned, but both of them hoped that her premonitions were wrong. They had the manpower to stop the demon before he tried anything with them. Before anyone could do anything, Mayonaka called Kaiya and lied saying that Kiense was attacking her. She was ordered to lure her sister back to their town. Everyone besides the fire psychic believed it to be a trap, even Marissa, and they all pointed out the fallacies of the girl's claim. Once Kaiya finally relented and accepted that her twin was definitely trying to lead them into a trap, Sui had picked up on Mayonaka's thoughts.

Mayonaka was warning them, about Kiense's threats against Suze and her compliance, and the fact that they would walk into a trap. She hoped the by given them forewarning, they could find a way to defeat Kiense. Everyone, besides her original team members, was shocked, and Yusuke was the one who made the suggestion to get back as quickly as possible. The former spirit detective refused to lose anyone to this mission.

As the others headed back to the town, Kaiya was being teased by Mika, Jin, and even Hiei (though he was just responding to the teasing), with Akio and Kiri present. It turned into a small "fight" between Kaiya and Hiei, which then gave them an idea. Though they weren't truly angry at each other, they decided to appear furious to give Kiense a false sense of security. Kaiya's friends and even Mayonaka knew how Kaiya handled herself in a fight when angry or upset…not well. Even their friends were convinced, though Kaiya informed Sui and Hiei informed Kurama. They were going to make their argument the most convincing one ever, even if it was over something as stupid as juvenile remarks.

They knew their victory was predicated on Suze being able to send him back to his dimension. With her powers blocked, the only way she could manage was to get close enough to him to force him back. Kiense needed to be distracted enough, for he would never let the thirteen year old get that close to him. Everyone now knew of Hiei's and Kaiya's plan, using a fight to distract Kiense. The needed to make the fire demon believe that they were having a disagreement over Mayonaka's supposed betrayal.

The two argued heatedly on the beach where Mayonaka and Kiense were hiding. They knew they would see an opportunity to attack while the two fire wielders wouldn't be on the ready to defend themselves. Kiense was ready to attack when Hiei mentally signaled Kaiya to dodge. With the help of both teams and even the psychics, Mitari and Hagiri, Kiense was hit with scalding hot water. In the meantime, Mika had prevented from getting involved, and Kaiya explained to Mayonaka that they all knew what was going on and that they would help her. Stunned by the admittance, Mayonaka didn't even realize that Kiense had been tied to a tree with vines.

The vines couldn't hold Kiense, though Kurama hadn't expected them to, angering Kiense who was insulted by the indifference. It was a common trait with fire users: the angrier you got them, the more mistakes they'd make in a fight. In his rage, Kiense lunged at Kurama, who managed to dodge, and landed directly in front of Suze. He attacked her not realizing that she was an illusion created by Suki. While Kiense battled the illusion, the twins teleported the real Suze behind him. She was able to use her power, sending the copy back and returning the real Kiense to their dimension. Still, alternate Kiense wasn't finished, pointing out to Mayonaka that she had betrayed her friends and they would never trust or accept her. He gave Mayonaka the chance to return to his dimension with him.

But Kaiya wouldn't let that happen, and instead gave her sister hope that things could get worked out.

The real Kiense was returned, happy to see the children he had adopted and cared for. Mayonaka was so happy to see him and ran over to her friend, thankful that they were truly reunited. After the trade was made, Suze swore never to use her abilities again.

Kaiya had contacted her mother. Where she wanted to work things out with Mayonaka, she knew her sister was still a flight risk. It would be better for all of them, including her twin, to go to America and spend time with their mother. Hopefully, Mayonaka would one day understand that she was no longer alone, that she didn't need to turn to evil ways to solve her problems. She hoped she would learn to grow as a person, and that is why she asked her mother to take Mayonaka in for a while. Before her sister left, she told Kaiya that Kiense and the others would be going to America with her and separate themselves from Spirit World.

Kaiya, later, found a note from Mayonaka. In the note, her sister apologized for the role she played in alternate Kiense's plans. She admitted to her sister that she loved the real Kiense, though she knew it wasn't an excuse. She also had given a warning that the real Kiense told her about a human psychic who broke away, for he truly hated demons. He worked with Kiense long before she or the others had ever met him. All she knew was that he was an adult who hated demons, and Kaiya and her friends might one day meet him.

Neither of the girls knew that the man was their own father.

* * *

That following summer marked the travel of many. Kaiya would be visiting her father's family back in America. Kurama had decided to travel to Demon World, knowing he needed to find Kuronue. He didn't know how long it would take him, and felt the need to talk to Sui about it. Sui's mother had offered her a deal to come back to America and leave her life in Japan behind. Sui had reluctantly decided to take her up on it, not wanting to disappoint her mother. The internship her mother had found her would last four years. With Kurama and Sui both going their separate ways, they decided to break their engagement for they had doubts about their relationship. Well, Sui had doubts and assumed Kurama had as well. He didn't want to trap her into anything of which she was uncertain.

Kaiya still had some classes to attend before finals, and Hiei ended up appearing on her campus before one of them. The psychic hadn't really wanted to go, so she asked Hiei to go with her. He agreed, appearing indifferent, but Kaiya had been so excited that he was willing to go with her that she hugged and kissed him, blushing not realizing that it wasn't the first time she had done that. They agreed to pretend it had never happened.

After the class, Mika had found Kaiya amused and Hiei irritated at something that had apparently occurred during the class. Kaiya then received a text from Sui explaining that she was leaving and that she and Kurama were over. Hiei knew his "friend" and knew he wouldn't have broken up with Sui. Kaiya sadly informed the fire demon how correct she was. Sui had broken up with Kurama.

Kaiya was responsible for packing Sui's things, recruiting Mika and Suki to help her. Hiei had shown up in secret when Kaiya was talking about her upcoming trip with her friends. She told them a story about her cousins and how they liked to fight with her. Hiei did not get the context and, having met Mayonaka, was concerned with how Kaiya would handle herself. The fighting in context was more of "playful fighting" where Kaiya would not be in danger. Still, it was a good thing that Hiei had decided to tail her.

Hiei met her two cousins, Kata and Keiji, ten and twelve years old, respectively. He understood, after seeing the "fight" that it was simple, playful sparring and nothing harmless. He also met her grandparents. It was interesting meeting her family, though he didn't speak their language. Keiji surprised Kaiya when he informed her that he was learning Japanese like the rest of the family had. It was then he was informed that Mayonaka would be staying as well, as suggested by their mother to work on their issues while also giving Mayonaka the chance to meet their father's side of the family. He quickly managed to inform the rest of their group, still not trusting his girlfriend's twin.

This led everyone to find a way to smuggle themselves into the country and aid their friend using their abilities. They hadn't been caught and arrived at the house after Hiei had spent the day with Kaiya, her sister, and her two cousins. During this time, Kaiya had decided to open up about how she understood what Mayonaka must have been feeling meeting the family for the first time. When the girl was eight years old, her father had entered her life, and she, too, had met the family later in life. Even though Mayonaka was an adult, Kaiya knew that had to make things harder. This was the beginnings of Kaiya opening up to her boyfriend about her father and his treatment over her, though she still wasn't ready to talk about much. In turn, Hiei confided in Kaiya how he doubted his own abilities in making his sister happy and how he believed she would not like knowing he was her brother, to which Kaiya tried to assure him that she would want to know.

The children didn't really understand why there was such a rift between Hiei and Kaiya and Mayonaka, so the two of them started questioning Hiei and Kaiya about their relationship. Hiei had been uncomfortable with the questioning and left Kaiya to answer. It surprised him to know that Kaiya spoke to her family about him, speaking only highly of him. Surprisingly enough, that would be something that would get them all into trouble later.

Though her cousins instantly accepted Hiei as part of the family, her father was another story. Kaiya had not even expected her father to visit with her half-brother during hers and Mayonaka's stay. Before he had shown up, Kaiya had another nightmare, a horrible premonition that warned her about her own death. After she had discussed the premonition with her friends, she was met by her brother, Keitaro, and also her father, Jiro. Though happy to see Keitaro, Kaiya felt off about seeing her father. Almost everyone had felt it. There was something about Jiro that they could sense, something dark a troubling. No one knew exactly what it was. It became even more troubling when Keitaro informed Kaiya that Jiro had said she was visiting his parents and that's why they were there.

Meanwhile, Kurama was following leads to find Kuronue and had successfully narrowed his search. He had ended up at a place where wayward demon thieves could hide out to avoid being captured by authorities. Kurama, having been in his demon form, had instantly been recognized by his old friend, who had also heard that he had been killed. The two of them quickly caught up, Kurama explaining that he had escaped to Human World and had allowed himself to be "raised" by the human woman who had been his mother. Kuronue was intrigued by the fact that Youko, who had once hated humans, had decided to live among them. When Kurama offered him the invitation to accompany him back to Human World, Kuronue accepted looking for adventure. Before Kaiya's vision and the arrival of Jiro, Kurama had returned and Yusuke had informed him by phone of Hiei's original concerns. He told his friend to come and stay since they could all use the vacation. No one had been aware of what was truly about to happen.

Jiro was a demon hunter.

Yes, for once, Mayonaka was _not_ the problem. In fact, she, too, was in danger. It was bad enough that Kaiya had told Hiei about how her father wasn't there for her and how she had lost out on nine years with his family, continuously trying to make it all up. During an outing with the group and Kaiya's cousins, a storm struck the area, causing the others to return to the family home since Mayonaka could not be out during thunderstorms. Jiro was there when they returned. He was acting strange, teasing his daughters for being jumpy during thunderstorms. Kata and Keiji were unaware of their uncle's darkness for the moment, excited to see their younger cousin. The three children left everyone alone with Jiro, and Kaiya began to panic feeling that something was wrong about the man. She mentally asked Hiei to read Jiro's mind, but the man had his thoughts guarded. It was then Kaiya realized what was happening, and Jiro knew she had come to the realization that he was evil.

Kaiya made up a legitimate excuse to leave the room, to collect herself before dealing with the issue at hand. The four girls went upstairs, especially Mayonaka who, like Kaiya, needed time to process what she was sensing. It was then they found the window of Kaiya's room opened. Four men in black robes had attacked the girls from behind, knocking them out and capturing them, but not before they screamed in surprise.

From downstairs, the guys could hear the screams and were ready to jump into action. They all rushed upstairs, though Kuwabara noticed that Jiro was smiling. Keitaro had entered the room, asking if his sisters were okay. When the redhead told the child that his friends would do anything to protect the girls, Jiro had said that _that_ was the problem.

Jiro had orchestrated the attack, his demon hunters capturing the human girls. He had known his daughter had been spending her time with demons. Kaiya had mentioned her friends' names to her father, slipping up on Kurama's name after being on painkillers once, not knowing just how famous they were in the world of demons and demon hunters. She never realized her slipups would cause a war. She also didn't know that her cousins and brother would be caught in the middle of it all. She didn't know that her father would see them all as collateral damage.

In order to save the girls, the demons needed to meet with the hunters at the park. Kuwabara made sure that they had the kids with them, knowing they needed to get them away from Jiro. The kids were terrified, worried about their cousins and their friends. They needed reassurance, surprised that they were really demons, but knowing they weren't bad because of their own spiritual awareness. Keitaro was the most inconsolable, looking to Hiei for comfort. He offered the boy words of comfort that his sister would be okay and that they would make sure of it, which led the boy to hug the fire demon, shocking him.

The demon hunters were surprised that the demons cared enough for the humans to show up. They were ready to end the girls, calling them nuisances for siding with demons. Just as the demons realized that their friends were not present, Kurama ordered Kuwabara to take the kids and use his awareness to find the girls. That's when they all heard an explosion.

Apparently, the girls had woken up and escaped their captors' hold. They easily defeated the four demon hunters, Mika pointing out that there was only one more to go. Kaiya, at that point, grew weary. She knew she couldn't fight her father. She had had a hard time fighting Mayonaka, even when she threatened Sui's, Kurama's, and Hiei's lives. After Kaiya admitted to regretting that fight with her sister, the girls noticed the guys there with the kids. Kaiya was consumed by guilt over the fact that her father was a demon hunter and knelt down in front of her friends crying and begging for forgiveness. Hiei was the one to join her on the ground and explain that she had nothing to be sorry for, that she had nearly been killed just for associating herself with them. As Kaiya continued to blame herself for her father learning of their location, Hiei silenced her with a kiss, effectively shutting the girl up. Stunned by that, Kaiya turned her attention to her cousins and brother who explained that Jiro had admitted everything in front of them. Everyone knew what needed to be done next. Jiro needed to be confronted.

It was a train wreck. Jiro knew all about Mayonaka's connection with Kiense. He knew all about Kaiya's connection to the former spirit detectives. He considered them to be both traitors and collateral damage in his mission, not caring what happened to them.

Jiro had a strange ability, one that allowed him to force someone to attack but then block the attack and revert it back at them with more force. It took everyone by surprise, but not as much as it took Jiro when Kaiya called him an enemy. He had given her an ultimatum, to choose between him and her friends. Kaiya knew what was right and chose her friends, but Jiro swore he would be the one to come out on top before disappearing.

Kaiya, later, was still upset. Hiei had appeared to be asleep, and she held her brother close to her, just feeling awful about the situation. She needed to be alone and think, and so she grabbed a book and decided to go outside and read. Hiei had appeared, telling her she shouldn't be alone. It was then that Kaiya admitted to everything regarding her father. She hadn't known he was a demon hunter; that was a surprise even to her. No, her father attacked her emotions for years, blaming her for the distance in their relationship, making her feel like she was at fault. He abandoned her time and time again. But, in the beginning, he had been nice. He had let the girl love him unconditionally before he ever made his first move.

Hiei did not like how torn up Kaiya was about her father's treachery, and promised that he would always be there for her. He wouldn't abandon her. He wouldn't blame her for things she had no control over. The psychic had felt lighter, but she still felt like she needed time to herself. She meant to finish a story she was reading and then return to her room. Hiei agreed to give her space, but made sure to keep watch over her. They had no idea that Jiro was there.

It had begun to rain, and Kaiya felt the strangest feeling of déjà vu ever. She remembered her vision and moved to go back inside, but Jiro was already standing there. She mentally screamed for Hiei's help, but Jiro did not give them time. He attacked her, lightning shooting from his hands. She was down on the ground in agony, the pain too much for any human to bear. Hiei was out there only a second later and demanded answers from the girl's father. Jiro calmly stated that it was her punishment for choosing their side. He also warned the fire demon that Kaiya would not survive if she didn't get to the hospital in time.

Everyone felt helpless. No one was allowed into the room while the doctors and nurses tried to save the girl's life. Hiei questioned the competency of the medical professionals when the doctor asked if anyone was related to Kaiya when her twin sister was standing right in front of him…and even asked if they were twins. Hiei was enraged by the whole situation, but he needed to make sure Kaiya was okay. When other doctors entered the room with machines most of the demons had never seen, Kurama was the one who was paralyzed. He had to be the one to inform them what was going on.

Kaiya's heart had stopped.

She wasn't responding to the machines. For all intents and purposes, she was gone, and her friends all knew who needed to pay. Mayonaka stayed behind not only to inform their grandparents, but to remain with Kaiya and apologize, even though she wouldn't be able to hear it. Then, something amazing happened.

Kaiya was surrounded by a red glow, Mayonaka not even noticing. The former fire psychic opened her eyes and groaned while sitting up. Mayonaka was so relieved, but she didn't know how it was possible. None of her relatives knew how it was possible. It was then that Koenma showed up and informed the girl that, like Yusuke, she had dormant demon blood affiliated with a strong clan of fire demons, the Kajika Clan. Kaiya was reborn with the power of a low A class demon. The doctor couldn't even fathom the fact that his patient was awake without a heartbeat.

Mayonaka was the one to inform her twin that everyone had gone after Jiro. They needed to know Kaiya was okay. They needed to know that was alive and well. Koenma helped her to get there before all hell broke loose. They had made it as Jiro insulted his daughter. Kaiya made her presence know, countering her father's remark. Everyone was shocked to see her standing there.

But, in addition to shock, Jiro was livid.

Kaiya casually informed her friends and father that she was a demon. He did not believe it possible, but the proof was standing right in front of him. The battle began, and it was discovered that Jiro could also fly. The team fought many demon hunters while Jin and Kuronue fought Jiro in the air. After the grunt hunters were dealt with, Jiro and Kaiya duked it out. The girl used her powers to attack from a distance, and everyone hoped it would be enough.

It wasn't.

Jiro somehow survived the girl's attack, but he was severely damaged. He was going to kill her again, make an example out of her, but Hiei had swiftly taken his life. The battle was over, and Jiro could no longer hurt them.

With that victory, Kaiya was able to relax and tackled Hiei to the ground, kissing him. Neither fire demon cared about the audience in that moment. Kaiya was too relieved, and Hiei was just thankful that she was there. Everything was peaceful after that, and Hiei asked Kaiya how it felt to be a demon. Kaiya didn't feel any different. She still felt like herself, so it didn't bother her. She actually thought it could be cool to have another connection with her boyfriend.

The group returned home, and decided to take a legitimate break from all the craziness at the beach. Hiei and Kaiya went to their private training spot on the beach, that wasn't necessarily so private. Kurama and the girls showed up when Kaiya was crying, the stress of everything finally hitting her. Hiei comforted her, pulling her in for a kiss to reassure her that she was not to blame, shocking their three friends. It was in that moment that Kaiya finally told Hiei that she loved him. The shocked fire demon took a while to respond, but he eventually admitted that he loved her, too. Mika and Suki, of course, told everyone about the confession. Yeah, things were good. Eventually, the two girls moved in with Kaiya considering Sui and Mayonaka were living in America.

The group decided to go on an actual vacation. Suki's family arranged a camping trip for her and her friends, and everyone was looking forward to having some time to relax. Preparations were being made, and Kaiya took some time to break away from the craziness to visit Kurama and see Hiei. While there, Kurama asked if Kaiya had heard from Sui at all. Kaiya was reluctant to tell him that she had heard from Sui, but that Sui was uninterested in keeping contact. The mind reader said she was done with the craziness and needed peace. Kaiya managed to put that discussion on hold, admitting to Hiei that she lied to Kurama. She didn't feel right about it, but Sui had become a different person saying hurtful things to push her away. She didn't want to hurt Kurama by telling him that Sui was dating some random guy or that she wanted nothing to do with any of them.

Sometime during the whole Jiro fiasco, Mika overheard Kaiya and Hiei discussing intense topics and learned that Hiei was Yukina's long-lost brother. She intended to hold it over his head for a long time. The fact that everyone, including Keiko, Shizuru, _and_ Yukina, was coming on the trip gave Mika an idea on how to have her fun. She basically had announced that she had blackmail over him to everyone when she demanded he help pack the cars. Hiei was more than irritated after having to watch Kuwabara fawn over his sister and then at Mika using his secret against him.

A lot of Kaiya's irrational fears started coming into the light. Her fear of darkness was a given, but it surprised her friends that she was also somewhat claustrophobic. It wasn't a surprise, but was unexpected, that she had developed a fear to thunderstorms and lightning considering how she had been killed. If that wasn't enough for the girl, and a cousin of hers from Jiro's, Alexia, had shown up in the area along with Mayonaka, Toshi, and Marissa. Alexia had news for Kaiya.

It turned out Alexia and Kaiya had had some sort of special operatives training as children. Alexia had become a secret agent and, after Jiro's death, had been investigating activity on demon hunters. Her search was narrowed to the area where they were camping. She had infiltrated the hunters' facility under the guise of a hunter herself. She had come across Toshi and Marissa there. Kiense had them investigating as well. Mayonaka had been along, too, since Alexia had informed her of everything including Jiro's will asking Alexia to become a member.

Kaiya admitted that she and Alexia were forced to take self-defense classes when they were younger. The two girls were assigned to each other to learn together and also to fight violently against each other causing the two girls to break away. Kaiya offered to help with the investigation, but Alexia assured her she'd be in danger and that her and her friends just needed to keep their energy expenditure to a minimum. Kaiya, though, said the danger never stopped her before. It made her friends wonder just what kind of skills their friend possessed.

Later that night, Mika had a premonition during a thunderstorm of something that were to happen to Suki, but was stopped when she saw Yukina and Suki standing over a panicking Kaiya. The shadow psychic sent Yukina to get Hiei seeing as he could probably keep Kaiya calm. It was then she warned Suki that she had some sort of vision where she'd become a demon. A blast entered the tent at that moment, hitting the psychic giving her the powers of a demon. A demon hunter was outside, a trainee probably, that hadn't meant for the weapon to go off as he ran through the camp sight. Apparently, their friends in the hideout were already looking into these weapons. Kaiya's skills were needed.

The skills Kaiya picked up including breaking and entering without getting caught, getting important files and documents, similar to the thieving skills that Kurama, Kuronue, and Hiei possessed. He also knew how to hack into computer mainframes. The demons wanted to see those skills put to the test. Kaiya planned a break in to the facility so that Kaiya could retrieve all the information off their computer system and figure out what these guns were all about. Alexia still didn't want her involved, trying to protect Kaiya from entering that life again, but Kaiya wanted to know the layout before she broke in.

Mayonaka snuck the floorplans to her sister, knowing that Alexia wouldn't be happy. Kaiya was determined to find a safe way into the stronghold. Using Mika's shadow abilities made it easy to get in and out while Kuwabara kept the guard distracted. Kaiya was able to get a ton of information that they brought back to the campsite. Hiei communicated with Hiei to return, but they knew he'd be bringing a fight back to the site. There was no way the hunters would just let a potential member walk away without being followed. You know…right before Kaiya's telepathy had fully developed, as it had been developing slowly up until that point.

The fight was easy and quick. Despite an army of demon hunters appearing at the site, they had been weak. It also had helped that they had used the guns that was turning them into demons before the fight. They had not been strong enough and only appeared as low level demons. It was a question in the back of everyone's minds, why the demon hunters would be looking into turning themselves into the things they hated, but that thought was put on the backburner. Really, they had only needed to take out these low level demons. Because they were demons, they didn't have to worry about killing them. When they were defeated, they had a momentary lag before the last opponent showed up, and in that moment, Alexia and Kuronue had a moment of their own despite Alexia's own denial.

And then the last opponent came, and it was someone no one had ever expected to see again.

Orochi.

Everything about the snake began to make sense. He had known about all of them when he dated Suki, and even when he went after Kaiya. He had been deemed the strongest of the sect and took over once his master, Jiro, was murdered. Both Touya and Hiei were ready to tear him apart, while Suki and Kaiya were a little hesitant. No, Kaiya wasn't afraid of him, but the fact that he had known and worked for her father was unsettling. For Suki, the illusionist was just in shock. Orochi had never really lost his memories to begin with, even though Hiei had used the Jagan. The hunter had been protected.

Both Mika and Yusuke were pissed that he had messed with their friends, so they began the fight, pummeling the human into the pavement. Alexia had known they'd get in trouble if they killed him, so she gave them warning to get out of the way and then shot him with a gun that turned him into a disgusting looking demon. Since Hiei had had the honor of ending Jiro's life, he gave Touya the same courtesy, and Orochi was finally no more.

That camping trip really hadn't been much of a vacation.

In terms of working vacation, though, both Kaiya and Mika had some trips they needed to take. Kaiya needed to introduce Hiei to her mother, which seemed harmless enough until her cousin got involved with their affairs. Mika, though, she needed to go through a ritual. It was something everyone in her family with shadow powers went through. Each generation had one person who took on the abilities, and it was now time for her to choose whether she'd be a human or a demon. If she chose to become a demon, she'd have to go through the most excruciating transformation ever save death, poisoning by arrow and then journeying into the mountains with the advisors of the Shadow People, Kuma, Drysi, Ares, and Genosuke, to get the antidote.

Kaiya's mother, Kagami, picked the couple up from the airport and introduced herself to her daughter's boyfriend. He also met Kaiya's some of Kaiya's cousins, Nariko and Kindo, as well as their dog, Nu Nu. Hiei was indifferent to Kindo, who tried to engage him into videogames, and irritated by both Nariko, who was whiny and bossy, and the dog that accosted him when he walked through the door. Hiei felt a bit uneasy with Kagami, but his distrust and nervousness left him after conversing with the woman. The mother had been wary after Nariko said that Hiei was wrong for Kaiya. Nariko had taken it upon herself to interrogate the fire demon, and Hiei did not answer her questions. He didn't feel the need. Kaiya knew how he felt and he confided in her anything going on about his life. He was not about to do that to someone he just met who held no sway over his girlfriend, like her mother, for example. With her, Hiei felt the need to answer the woman's questions.

Kagami learned more about Hiei from a brief conversation with her daughter and a longer talk with Hiei. She learned that he was orphaned due to his gender, though he left the part about demons and being tossed off a floating island out, and also that he was a swordsman and met his daughter when teaching her defense. It was when she questioned him on his meeting with Jiro that Hiei grew defensive, becoming hesitant again, and going off to find Kaiya.

The mother had overheard the two talking about Jiro and what had happened, and Hiei had informed Kaiya that her mother was spiritually aware. Kagami, in fact, was, and didn't care about the fact that they were demons, but was more concerned with the fact that her daughter had died and that her father had hurt her that much. She felt much better knowing how much Hiei had cared about and defended her daughter.

Someone else wasn't that accepting.

Nariko overheard Kaiya and Hiei telling her mother everything that happened with Jiro. The fact that her cousin and her boyfriend were demons terrified her, and she confided the information in her boyfriend, Jake. The boy acted like he didn't believe his girlfriend, that she had an active imagination. In reality, Jake was also a demon hunter, and he was looking to make his master's daughter and her friends pay for what they had done to him.

Kaiya had woken up to Hiei trying to keep her warm in her grandmother's freezing house right before Nariko had shown up. She wanted to spend some time with Kaiya, even offering for Hiei to join them at the mall. Hiei refused the offer, but Nariko didn't seem deterred. After the girl left the room, Hiei informed Kaiya that he didn't trust something surrounding her cousin. He wasn't worried about her cousin betraying her, but there was just…something. Whatever it was, he couldn't explain his distrust.

Meanwhile, their friends were just waiting around Mika's home for her to return. Kuronue attempted to get closer Alexia, which was challenging since the spy on the right side of the law saw him as nothing more than a thief. Mika, though, was dealing with one advisor who thought she was nothing but a child and didn't think any amount of training would change her. She proved him wrong. Not only did she help in rescuing the fourth advisor, Genosuke.

Nariko and Kaiya were talking about Kaiya's life away at school and her friends when Nariko snuck into the conversation that she was worried Hiei didn't respect her. When Kaiya questioned why she'd ask something like that, Nariko revealed that she knew Hiei was a demon and she had always thought they were aggressive and dangerous. Kaiya grew defensive of Hiei and pointed out that Nariko didn't understand anything, to which her cousin agreed apologetically. Nariko told the girl she was just worried about her. She confessed that she had told Jake and that he thought she was letting her imagination run wild. Kaiya paled and realized why Hiei had been so distrusting, what Hiei meant when he didn't trust something around Nariko. It was then that Jake showed up in the black demon hunter cape.

Hiei kept trying to contact Kaiya through telepathy, though she wasn't responding. Kagami was starting to worry about her daughter, as was Hiei, though he didn't show it. Alexia had sensed a bad vibe having to do with Kaiya. Mayonaka had called her twin. Her phone was off. Kurama then called Hiei who was not in a good mood. It had been a week since Kaiya and Nariko had been kidnapped by Jake. That struck Alexia hard, for Kaiya had disappeared once when they were younger and she really hoped it wasn't somehow related.

Kaiya was still attempting to break her and her cousin out of their prison-like cell. Nariko kept trying to get Kaiya to give up and stop attacking the bars, especially since she didn't have access to her powers. Jake was starving them, keeping them in a cell with no water or light. They were both feeling the effects, but Kaiya refused to give up. She was going to get her cousin out of there. Watching Kaiya made Nariko feel worse. She blamed herself for getting them into that situation. She couldn't believe her boyfriend would betray her or go after her cousin. Kaiya had to explain the cutthroat cruelty of the demon hunters. A guard entered, treating Kaiya like a creature instead of a person, but felt a strange pang of empathy when Kaiya requested food and water be given to her cousin who had nothing to do with her and hadn't even known of her powers (aside from being the guard's master's girlfriend). The guard was so impressed by the demon's selflessness and thought, if things were different, that she'd be the perfect woman for him. Nariko had overheard the thought, and Kaiya realized that she had powers similar to Sui.

Kaiya was trapped, forced to sit in a chair surrounded by talismans and held in by metal bars around her wrists and ankles. She realized that Jake wasn't messing around, not that that was surprising. Jake entered and explained to Kaiya that he would be interrogating her. If she answered the way he wanted, he'd let her live, but Kaiya, of course, chose to be difficult and say the truthful answers. He hit her when she said she got her powers after her father killed her, accusing her of murdering the man. When Kaiya said she wasn't the one who killed Jiro, Jake had asked her who did, but the girl refused to give him an answer. She wasn't planning on betraying Hiei by throwing him under the bus. She would _not_ be the reason another demon hunter went after him. The chair had metal bars for a reason, to electrocute the girl if she refused to talk. Still, Kaiya kept quiet, refusing to submit to Jake's will or lose her life a second time. She was returned to the cell in very poor condition. Nariko had been fearing the worst.

Kaiya didn't care that he threatened her life. She only cared about getting her cousin out of there. Jake stated that he'd let her go provided she swear her allegiance to the demon hunters and turn her back on her cousin. Kaiya knew that, if Nariko could convince him, she could tell Hiei where to find her. Nariko didn't want to leave Kaiya, but the human/demon hybrid told her cousin she needed to be convincing and lie her way out of there if they were both to make it out alive. Nariko reluctantly agreed, but she trusted her cousin.

Some of Kaiya's and Hiei's friends had showed up having taken the private jet of Kurama's step-father's friend. Nariko arrived to the family house telling everyone about Jake, who he was, and what he was planning. She was a wreck, but the rest were determined. Hiei refused to lose Kaiya again. The guard from earlier had also shown up and overheard how concerned the demons were about their friend and how they were willing to provide protection for the human girl Jake had sent him to follow. This guard had become a demon hunter because of his own experiences. A demon had killed his girlfriend, and he felt like he was no better keeping a girl away from her boyfriend just because he was a demon. He hadn't harmed him in any way, so the guard, in good conscience, couldn't let them go without help. He heard all the women discussing just how much Hiei cared for Kaiya and how it would affect him if she was killed again. The fire demon would want revenge. Isn't that why the guard had joined the demon hunters, after all?

He returned to the hideout, gaining the attention of the demons. Hiei was threatening, but the guard could see through him. He gave him the option to keep his life if only he told him where his girlfriend was. Even Kurama and Kuronue made no move to attack the hunter. The guard snuck the three thieves in using the demon hunter cloaks. They went to Kaiya's cell and found the girl lying on the ground weak save her breathing. Hiei was at her side instantly, trying to wake her up. Her voice was weak, but she was relieved that her boyfriend was there. Jake, though, caught them in the act of trying to break his prisoner out, and he was not about to let her go without a fight.

Kaiya tried to demand he let them leave, pointing out that Nariko wouldn't think highly of him. Jake only cared about destroying all of them. As Hiei, Kurama, and Kuronue prepared to fight Jake, the guard tried to get Kaiya to leave. She refused to leave her friends, but Hiei communicated with her and told her to go. He told her she had been through enough. She then agreed to go with the guard while Hiei criticized the demon hunter for torturing Kaiya and Nariko.

Jake just laughed at how Kaiya didn't give up Jiro's killer, even letting herself fall into unconsciousness from the pain to avoid talking. When asked why he cared about Jiro's killer, he explained that Jiro had trained him, been like a father to him, but that he had been taken away because of the demons. He, too, believed that Kaiya had deserved her death for siding with them. Angered, Hiei attacked, ruthlessly punching Jake hard enough for the hunter to be whimpering. He was surprised that Hiei didn't kill him, and Hiei explained he wasn't worth it. After all, he didn't want to get arrested for killing a human when he could be with Kaiya. Besides, Jake would have to answer for his crimes, anyway. He did go after Koenma's spirit detectives.

Kaiya was then reunited with everyone, her cousins and sister feeling relieved and her mother refusing to let her go. Everyone decided to leave, even Nariko, returning to Japan. Nariko wanted to know more about her mind reading capabilities, and the others wanted to get back to Mika and her ordeal. Mika returned to them as a demon.

Things had changed between the girls then, for Suki decided to go off to the agency Alexia worked for as a spy and continue her training. Mika went off to continue her own training and deal with and a clan to run and defend from a growing war. Nariko learned a little more about her powers before she returned to America. She kept in contact with Kaiya on a regular basis. Kaiya, well, she decided to stay in Japan and continue her marine biology education. She and Hiei were still going strong, even though she had her challenges and episodes of blackouts. He was the one to convince her to go through with the mind scanning in order to stop these episodes without pressing her on the issue or making her feel like an experiment.

* * *

"And that was about everything that happened before we found out about each other."

Vegeta rolled his eyes at his sister's story. They had been conversing during the night, both of them not able to sleep. He was still training in space and Kaiya was still on Earth, now hiding out in the GR as she told him her life's story.

He had only been listening since the girl offered it up. He hoped that by hearing her story, he'd eventually succumb to sleep, but it was hard when someone was talking in his head. "I did _not_ need to know all of that," he grumbled, irritated over the images of the fire demon with his sister.

Kaiya chuckled a little bit, catching his thoughts. It actually felt nice to have this kind of connection with her brother. She was so happy she learned about him when she did. Of course, she had the flashbacks and blackouts to thank for that. It led her friends to Capsule Corp., where Kuwabara interned, so that they could use/test a mind scanner.

No one knew that Kaiya's powers would connect hers and Vegeta's minds, showing her friend's Vegeta's memories and Bulma Kaiya's. They hadn't even known that Bulma was doing the same thing to the Saiyan. It was strange that Kaiya and Vegeta had seen each other on that day on the beach, though they didn't recognize each other. It seemed fate wanted them to meet again after all those years. And now, they were kind of stuck since neither of them knew how to end the connection.

Kaiya still couldn't believe that he father had been part of the Planet Trade Organization, and she hadn't been able to remember her kidnapping or the experiment that gave her Saiyan DNA, the DNA of Vegeta's sister that even he hadn't known about. Frieza had wanted to see what would happen if he used a Saiyan's blood in a transfusion. Would the soldier heal quickly? Would they gain immense power? Well, apparently yes, but the blood wouldn't coagulate properly and the DNA would forever exist in the body of the test subject.

Her time on Frieza's ship was as anyone would expect. Terrifying, violent, traumatizing…all good words to describe it. She had Vegeta there, though, who was ordered to look out for her, as well as Nappa while Raditz was on a purge with another team. It wasn't until Frieza had left the ship that Kaiya had decided to break into one of the rooms on the ships where files were stored. She had grabbed her own and the Saiyans, and she learned what Frieza had done to their home.

Vegeta couldn't believe this little girl, with a power level between forty and fifty and a fear of enclosed spaces, could get around the ship _without_ being detected, break into Frieza's room, and get files on all of them before returning to his room. He knew that when Frieza returned, this child would most likely end up dead. Vegeta and Nappa looked through all of their files, including Kaiya's, and realized he had done more than destroy their home.

They learned about the experiment, and now Vegeta grew even more concerned for the girl that was his sister.

They had talked more after that, Vegeta trying to teach Kaiya about the Saiyan race and culture and Kaiya telling Vegeta all about Earth and her family. She had brought a bag of Earthling objects: chocolate, music, paper, and crayons. She even drew a picture of Earth with the saying "There's no place like home" three times, a reference lost on her Saiyan brother.

Vegeta and Nappa took the risk, while Frieza was off ship, to get Kaiya out of their and en route to Earth. They had made all the necessary arrangements, but Cui had delayed their plans when he captured Kaiya. Vegeta had gotten her away and knocked her out so that she wouldn't fight him or try to convince him to go with her. They needed her away from Frieza, and they succeeded. Saiyans already had a form of mental communication before Kaiya and Vegeta ever had been connected by her telepathy. Before she was too far gone, he communicated words he never said and probably would never say again, that he loved her. He told her to be safe, and Kaiya planned on doing just that.

If Vegeta hadn't gotten her off that ship after Jiro had brought her there, she didn't know how different things would have been. She had only been nine and Vegeta sixteen. He had taken a great risk for a sibling he had never asked for. Because of that, Frieza had used one of his soldier's abilities to erase the memories of her, Vegeta, and Nappa, as well as anyone associated with them, just to keep the rebellious Saiyan from remembering what had caused him to rebel. He punished Vegeta, locking him away in a dark cell for isolation, leading the older Saiyan to somewhat lose his sanity as he got older. Later, though, before a mission to Earth, he found Kaiya's drawing. Unfortunately, he could not remember the significance.

"I still can't believe everything that's happened," Kaiya marveled, sighing in contentment. "You know, before I found out who you were, I had always wanted an older brother."

Vegeta couldn't really say the same, but he mentally grunted acknowledging the statement. He was still seeing a few of her innocent memories, including the fact that Hiei's secret was outed to Kuwabara by Yusuke right after the mind scanning had been completed. He could feel how nervous she was when she want to Capsule Corp. to look for him, and how much she had distrusted Bulma their first meeting. He couldn't blame her for her lack of trust, but it still amazed him how quickly she and Bulma became, dare he say, friends.

Kaiya smiled, remembering all the times she and Vegeta trained, him trying to figure out why she was always on the defensive. In her reflection, though, she frowned when she remembered how terrified she was of her own power. She hadn't told Vegeta why, only that she was afraid to hurt others. Vegeta knew, at that moment, that Kaiya would be in constant danger with that train of thought.

"I'm surprised that your 'boyfriend' didn't teach you how to fight offensively," Vegeta bit out. At first, he hadn't liked Hiei. Sure, Hiei reminded him of himself somewhat, but he was still some stranger who was harboring feelings for his sister. Their banter had irritated the prince at first, for he thought Hiei was disrespecting Kaiya. He did not tolerate disrespect to Saiyans from anyone, not even some guy his sister had feelings for.

Kaiya had been thinking about the party she and her friends had thrown to introduce Vegeta to the group, and also when Hiei had told Yukina the truth when she heard Vegeta's thought. The topic of that comment cut through the girl like a knife. "Well," she sighed, "you saw when I tried to convince him when we dealt with the alternate Kiense. Heck, you even saw the scar when Yukina had covered hers up and I showed her mine. Hiei and I…the way we fought was different. Besides, I knew I could never fight like that, not when I could do so much damage."

"You have to learn control," Vegeta reminded her, sidestepping her comment about Yukina. He remembered that moment, considering Kaiya had been very proud and Saiyan-like. It have given him a new view on her then. "You should focus on that while I'm away. We still have the Androids to deal with."

Kaiya certainly remembered that, her breath catching in her throat. She and her friends had known nothing about the Dragon Balls. Bulma had invited her when they were wishing their friends back to life. Yamcha, Kaiya, and Hiei had butted heads when the human innocently flirted with her. It left a lasting impression on the human so much so that he really had issues with them hanging around CC so much, to which Bulma reminded both him and her that Kaiya was always welcome there.

During this time, Kaiya learned about the events on Namek. She couldn't believe that Frieza had destroyed another planet. She was even more shocked when he returned, the same day her father was wished back, using the Earth's Dragon Balls, by his loyal follower, Jake, and a girl named Mizuki, two demon hunters. Frieza had been killed by a lavender-haired teen from the future who informed them all that Androids would be attack in three years. It had been a very exhausting day, to say the least.

"I know," Kaiya admitted before smiling. "But don't worry. I haven't been slacking off. When school starts up again, though…that'll be the biggest distraction. Hiei and I are already figuring out how to work training into the schedule so I don't have any problems."

"Good," Vegeta replied curtly. He didn't need his sister falling behind in her training. Not when she had come so far.

Jiro had a responsibility to train Kaiya and make her a soldier, but he failed in that. It was clear, when Jiro showed up, that he was fearful of running into Frieza. No one knew the extent of his relationship to the tyrant, though it came out much, much later. Before that, though, he attempted to kill Kaiya again, Gohan almost getting caught in the crossfire. It would have been horrible considering Saiyans had a weakness to electricity. That was why Kaiya hadn't been able to survive an attack so direct.

"So," Vegeta grumbled, sleep still alluding him, "what _is_ going on with Hiei?"

Vegeta remembered the time where he was still unsure of Hiei. Hiei, though, had earned his respect, first, when he overheard the fire demon talking to his sister about his past and what happened to his own sister. Vegeta felt like he could relate to the fire demon. Hiei, also, was the one who recommended that Kaiya move into Capsule Corp. after Jiro returned. The building had better security than Kaiya's little apartment, and both he and Vegeta would be there to protect her if Jiro had the gall to attack her. Though he didn't like that the fire demon could read his mind, he was thankful that he was willing to fight him so that the prince could judge whether or not he was worthy for his sister. It also amazed him how angry Hiei was over what had happened to Kaiya, and how he was willing to let her go if Vegeta didn't not deem him able to protect her. It was clear to the Saiyan how much Hiei truly cared for Kaiya. He was definitely worthy of her, as loathe as he was to admit it.

"He's fine," Kaiya mused, smiling lightly as she closed her eyes. "He's taking to being an uncle really well. It's amazing."

It was sometime after Bulma and Yamcha had broken up and the latter had moved out before Yukina had asked to spend time with Kaiya. The ice maiden had needed to talk to the human/demon/Saiyan hybrid. She and Kuwabara had mated and she was pregnant with twins, a boy and a girl, and she didn't know how to deliver the news to her brother delicately. Kaiya had offered to talk to Hiei and Yukina was grateful. That was also the time Vegeta had met the ice maiden. Vegeta hadn't been too happy that day considering he learned about this telepathic connection between him and Kaiya and that he had no way to block out his thoughts, especially from Hiei and Jiro. Jiro…he had hated him.

"I still can't believe everything," Kaiya murmured quietly, Vegeta feeling a humming in his mind. She laid back down and shook her head. "Mom's family kind of freaked when I told them everything, and Jiro's family was just shocked."

"I thought your mother knew," Vegeta mused.

"She did, and Nariko, my cousin, did, too," Kaiya explained. "It was the rest we had to explain it to. They want to know if Hiei and I picked a wedding date."

"What did that bastard's family say?"

Kaiya sighed, knowing Vegeta would probably never be able to talk about Jiro without getting angry. It hadn't helped that he wasn't their only problem back then.

While there were problems with Jiro, there were also problems with Spirit World. Hiei was planning on participating in the next Demon World Tournament and asked the Saiyan prince to look after both Kaiya and his sister. Vegeta had agreed, but was surprised when he overheard Kaiya and Hiei discussing it. She had overheard her boyfriend talking to Vegeta and was upset that Hiei didn't trust her. The fire demon assured her that it had nothing to do with trust. Hiei had not wanted to participate for that would leave Kaiya unprotected with Jiro running around. But, Kaiya would have not survived in Demon World, and Koenma had been willing to send her to fight in the tournament. Though Yusuke was well respected, he had been Raizen's heir and could hold his own against other demons. Kaiya did not like to fight and she was just some random human with demon blood. She would be targeted, and Hiei refused to let that happen, so he agreed to take her place without her knowledge of the situation.

Kaiya was livid. Koenma hadn't had the right to mandate she fight, nor did he have the right to blackmail Hiei into taking her place. It was bad enough he had already stated that the Saiyans would not be permitted to take human life, just as it was for demons. Kaiya demanded to speak to him, and he allowed her to make a demand, provided she take a mission for him. Allowed to make her own team, Kaiya needed to prepare. If she succeeded in bringing in the remaining demon hunter sect leader in for questioning, both the demons and Saiyans would be permitted to kill humans, but only in self-defense.

The Saiyan princess started trying to train herself. Vegeta scoffed remembering how she had gotten herself plastered to the ground of the GR before he found her. It marked the beginning of her official training under him. It was intense, considering Vegeta wanted her to be tougher. He did not give her any breaks just because she hadn't had the proper training before, at least not training for battle. He had pointed out the flaws in the moves she had developed herself among other useful information. It was what Kaiya needed, especially when she had taken the assignment.

She needed to make a team, so she decided to enlist Kuwabara's older sister, Shizuru, Mayonaka, Alexia, and Botan. Yukina had overheard about the mission and wanted to go, too. The location was in Greece, so Mayonaka contacted Kiense and his group and the fire demon, Toshi, Marissa, Suze, and the twins showed up in Greece to help them. Before the mission logistics were decided, Kaiya kept her promises to Yukina and talked to Hiei about her potentially joining in on the mission and also about the twins. Hiei had been so angry and then left Kaiya alone in the room to confront Kuwabara.

Vegeta was a little stunned as he saw his sister's thoughts. Apparently, Kuwabara had stood up to Hiei, explaining just how strongly he felt for the fire demon's sister. He explained to Hiei that his behavior as a brother was normal, and that's how Kaiya found out about Hiei's and Vegeta's fight where the Saiyan had deemed him worthy. "Well," Kaiya interrupted, answering his question about Jiro's family, "Jiro didn't really talk to them either. They told him at one point that they refused to choose between us, so he made the choice for them. I didn't see him at family functions much. The only one he really talked to was his sister, and she was just as stunned as everyone else. My grandmother just couldn't believe he did and said the things he did to me. She just doesn't understand how he'd allow himself to turn into that when he hadn't been raised to behave that way."

"Hmph," the Saiyan muttered, turning over on his bed. "Clearly they don't know the workings of the universe."

Kaiya frowned. "Not everyone is like that, Geta. Not everyone would be willing to trade lives and make deals with tyrants like that."

Mizuki hadn't been like that. After Kaiya had left for the mission in Greece, Mizuki had come to the spirit detectives to give information on Jiro. When she had joined the demon hunters, she did know that not all demons attacked humans. Unfortunately, Jake had recruited her to their cause and, to keep her little siblings safe, she went along with it, despite how much she disliked how Jiro talked about his own daughter or Jake about Kaiya's cousin, Nariko. She wasn't delusional. Jiro had had Jake acquire the Forlorn Hope, and he intended to have Mizuki sacrifice her life for the wish. She brought her siblings, Tristen and Kala, twins, to Genkai's and asked for protection. Though no one reacted well to her at first, they all understood where she was coming from. She hadn't committed any crimes, yet, so Koenma was fine in letting her off with a warning. She even admitted that Jiro had the Forlorn Hope as some sort of backup, that he planned to attack Demon World very soon. It gave them the opportunity to warn the demons so they could be ready to fight.

There was more to the story than that. It turned out that everything Jiro had ever put his children through was to protect them from Frieza. It all started with a vision he had had before Kaiya and Mayonaka were born, that his daughter would be his ultimate downfall. His roommate had known and gone straight to Frieza. The Arcosian tyrant was intrigued, and so Jiro had no choice but to listen to his commands. He did, however, try to end Kaiya's life, but she had been protected by a veil of fire. Later on in this mess, Koenma finally found and released information pertaining to that. It had been inaccessible for a while due to Hiei and Kaiya being soul mates. Apparently, if one half is in danger, the other half's powers would cross dimensions and protect that person. Hiei had unknowingly saved his soulmate's life... Any information regarded soul mate's is heavily guarded until they meet, so no one knew what Jiro had done.

At least, not entirely.

Kaiya sighed. "I wish things could have been different."

Vegeta rolled his eyes when his sister started thinking of some good, childhood memories with that man. The prince knew that Jiro hadn't really wanted Kaiya's life to be in danger, but it still didn't change his feelings towards him. He stilled loathed the human, despite the fact that he was dead. After all, he had used a Saiyan's weakness, electricity, to kill his own flesh and blood. Just because Frieza wanted her at that time didn't mean the human had to comply. Who cared if the tyrant would have been pissed? Vegeta certainly hadn't when he rebelled. "Well, it wasn't," he replied gruffly.

"I know," Kaiya whispered. "I just…sometimes I wish Jiro would have told me everything from the start. I could have been doing something all that time. We could have had a better relationship instead of him trying to make me hate both him and you."

Kaiya would have never guessed the secret her father was hiding. Even during the night she arrived in Greece, he attacked her mind through her dreams. Vegeta witnessed the whole thing. Jiro tried to turn Kaiya against Vegeta by reminding the girl that he killed Nappa, and that he'd kill her, too. He blamed his daughter, calling her a waste of space, a problem that needed to be extinguished. Even Vegeta was irritated by the man's words, for the only waste of space the Saiyan saw was in that human PTO member.

Vegeta had met Mizuki soon after, not understanding why they were keeping the enemy alive. After talking to her, though, he understood she was just a child that got involved with the wrong people and that she never meant to enter this life. Part of it reminded him of his time with Frieza, protecting her siblings as he was protecting his planet and father, but that's as far as his sentiments went. Her rebellion against Jiro was like his own against Frieza. He became indifferent to her after that. At that time, though, Kurama suggested he go to Kaiya in case Jiro was to show up, but Vegeta was curious as to how she'd handle herself.

He wasn't interfering with her mission.

The first day of the mission, they were gathering intel, but the second day was a bit more challenging. There was a huge thunderstorm leaving Mayonaka and Kaiya huge lightning rods, Mayonaka for her water powers, and Kaiya from her fear. Alexia warned Kaiya to stay, not wanting to risk her becoming fearful in a battle because of some thunder and lightning. She went out into the storm, to desensitize her of her fear to the lightning. She meditated, blocking everything out, and it felt great. Kiense, though, came to find her, and officially apologized for everything his alternate personality had done in the past. Kaiya assured him that she had no qualms with him about that. Kiense also confessed that he had dealings with Jiro. Mayonaka had warned her in the note, but Kiense had never told her. He hadn't known of Jiro's connection with her or Kaiya until recently. All he knew was the man was unstable. He also convinced Kaiya to return back with him, explaining that she wouldn't get over her fears in a day. It was something she'd need to work on with the people that cared for her.

During the mission, the group learned that Alexia's father, Edward, was involved. It turned out that he was just close to Kaiya's father during their time with the PTO in college. Alexia and Kaiya weren't really cousins, but they still accepted each other as family. Edward, though, he hated Kaiya. He hadn't even known she existed until Jiro informed him she was in Greece and gunning for him. Like Alexia, he had water abilities (different than Mayonaka's) and could create barriers, but he could also amplify an enemy's fears and attack them with them, paralyzing the opponent.

The information Alexia had gathered revealed the mad science that Jiro and Edward had discovered. Basically, they were messing with human genetics, turning them into demons, just to see what had happened like Frieza had done with her. Then, demons entered the city that had once been human. Many stayed back at the villa for protection, but Kaiya, Kiense, Alexia, Toshi, Kuwabara, and Marissa went out to investigate. They split up in groups of two and started to divide and conquer the city. Everyone had to fight these psychic-demons.

Meanwhile, Vegeta was still angered by everything and had a lot of extra energy in his rage. He attempted to expel it through training, but that had not helped him. He eventually settled for stewing in the animosity in the darkness of Capsule Corp. and was discovered by Bulma who attempted to sooth him with words and her touch. It led to the two spending the night, though Vegeta really hadn't understood what had come over him. When he awoke, he was completely shocked and bothered by the whole interaction that he left the woman alone and hoped to avoid any discussion regarding the mistake he had made.

Kaiya blushed as her brother's thoughts invaded her. "Um…"

Vegeta, hearing his sister's awkward inner voice, paled. He hadn't meant to think of the woman or the brat she had had. Right now, he had only one thing he needed to focus on, and the woman and his child were not a part of that.

"But they will be, right?" Kaiya asked hopefully. She knew Vegeta had seen what happened with Bulma as a mistake but, with what Vegeta had said about her arrival into his life, she hoped he'd accept Trunks into his life. He had said once before that he never asked for her and hadn't wanted someone else in his life to look after, but she was there and so he would honor that obligation. He had to feel the same way towards his son.

"I'm not your father," Vegeta confirmed. "I don't run away from my choices. Regardless of how it happened, conscious thought or not, he is there. I will be training him once he can walk."

Kaiya smiled. "You'll have to convince Bulma of that," she teased. "Don't worry; I'll help. I know how important it is."

Strangely enough, that made Vegeta feel a little better. He knew he'd need to have the discussion with the blue-haired woman when he returned to Earth. He was dreading it, knowing how bent out of shape she had gotten when he had 'attacked' Kaiya. He was, by no means, afraid of what Bulma would say. It would just save a lot of aggravation when he told her what would happen with Trunks' training. It was bad enough Kakarot had given into his woman regarding Gohan's training. He would not relinquish that part of his culture for anything.

"You'll love him," Kaiya reported. "He's really a good baby. I'm kind of thankful. He listens to me and Hiei when it comes to his strength. I think he can actually understand, and he's really careful not to hurt Bulma with his strength. I can't wait for you to meet him. You'll be so proud of how far he's come in just a few months."

Vegeta actually did beam a little with pride. From the sound of it, his boy was more advanced for his age. The prince had to attribute that to both his and Bulma's genetics. As loathe as he was to admit it, Bulma was very bright, and her intelligence along with his own must have rubbed off on their child. The only thing that bothered him was the mental images his sister sent him. Did his son actually have purple hair?

"It's lavender, actually," Kaiya corrected.

"Because that's so much better," Vegeta grumbled.

"There's nothing wrong with it," Kaiya said with a smile. "He's perfect."

Vegeta ended that conversation there and tried to sleep again, but sleep still was eluding him. He was aggravated and sighed. At least his sister was suffering through this insomnia with him. "What about you two?" he asked, referring to his sister and her soulmate.

Well, the two had been through a lot since Hiei had learned the truth from Koenma. Hiei had tried contacting Kaiya during the city invasion. Instead, he got Yukina on the compact, learning that she, Shizuru, Mayonaka, and the children that aided Kiense were left alone in the villa while everyone else was dealing with the former psychics. Though he hated the idea of his sister being left unprotected, he also worried about Kaiya. He needed to tell her about the fact that they were soulmates and everything her father had done.

Kaiya, on the other hand, was disconnected from everyone else, the Grecian town surrounded by Edward's barrier. She and Kiense had to deal with six powerful psychic-demons that had the powers of the elements. It was then, after Kiense got in the way and killed the psychic-demon, when Kaiya had realized she couldn't even kill in self-defense on her own. She had only ever killed demon hunters in self-defense with her friends attacking with her, but seeing her opponent dead in front of her left her feeling haunted. She didn't want to become what Jiro had wanted, a killer, and she was thankful that Kiense had taken control of the fight, providing her a way out from her choice. The worst part of the mission, though, was fighting Edward.

Kaiya and Alexia were the ones who found Edward first. Alexia was worse for wear considering she had used one of her deadliest abilities earlier that night fighting psychic-demons. Guilt and fear consumed the psychic, remembering how she had used the ability on Kaiya once before in a fight and nearly killed her. The 'Song of Death,' the major power of a death siren, it was the one thing that Alexia feared about herself. In a fight against her father, that was dangerous.

Edward's ability to amplify fear had Alexia on the ground instantly, and Kaiya knew she needed to protect her "cousin." She began to fight Edward, and the human knew he couldn't hold her off for long. It would be easier for him to fight Alexia than it would be for Kaiya. Using the hybrid's caring nature against her, he increased the force of his attack on his daughter. Kaiya was instantly at her side trying to reassure the girl that things were going to be fine. Alexia, though starting to feel somewhat lighter, had abruptly broken free, and she knew that it had been way too easy.

The attack had been redirected towards Kaiya.

Sure, Kaiya had her many irrational fears and was being bombarded by them but, even with the anxiety, she was able to think clearly. She thought about what Vegeta must have felt during his imprisonment, his punishment for rescuing her, and images of Frieza only served to add to her stress. But, through this attack, Kaiya was able to gain access to a memory she had repressed, the painful experiment that gave her Saiyan blood. She saw Dodoria force Jiro out of the room, sending him back to Earth after Frieza had gone back on the deal of killing her. She saw Zarbon attack her before transfusing the blood, just to see _if_ she'd heal. She saw Frieza kill the scientist that informed him she would forever remain Saiyan royalty due to the blood not coagulating properly, the Saiyan DNA coexisting with her human DNA. She also saw when she tried to attack Frieza when he called her an experiment, fighting for her individuality and sustaining the head injury that allowed her mind to hide the memory from her until a decade later.

She also focused on the fact that Vegeta had gotten her away from Frieza, and then thought of him training her and then of Hiei training her. As she focused on the positive thoughts of her brother and boyfriend, Edward's power amplified those feelings associated with the thoughts. He couldn't just amplify feelings of fear. He could amplify whatever feelings, positive or negative, and that was the key to defeating him.

She easily broke free after that, angering and confusing Edward. Using Vegeta's words regarding learning a move's weakness, she explained to Alexia that the coward only tells people that fears will be amplified, for the victim will then only focus on their fears. Making an example, she used one of her old, faulty techniques of which Vegeta had determined the weaknesses. Her Swirling Firestorm technique had become the Torrent of Fire, Kaiya using her ki to redirect the flames to the center of the storm. Edward was beaten and the barriers surrounding the town disappeared. Hiei was the first one on the scene having forced Koenma to send him there through a portal the moment the barrier was down. It was when she had awaken the day after where Hiei was finally able to tell her that they were soulmates.

"Everything is fine," Kaiya replied with a grin.

"And he's fine with you gallivanting with that bastard's family?"

Kaiya frowned again, instantly. "Please don't hold Jiro's actions against them," she pleaded. "Even Jiro wasn't really doing all of that crap to be…malicious."

Eventually, Jiro's actions began to make sense. Mizuki, as an empath, had explained it all. Everything Jiro had been doing was an act. Why? Because he had never purposefully planned on putting her in harm's way. Instead, it was the opposite. He wanted to hide her, even from his own family. It was bad enough Frieza and his college roommate knew of her because the roommate had overheard Jiro talking in his sleep when he had the vision. The roommate had reported it to Frieza, and Frieza had been intrigued. Every time Jiro talked about ending Kaiya's life, Mizuki could feel his uneasiness. Truthfully, her father loved her, but to protect her, he had tried to end her if only to keep her from living the life of one of Frieza's soldiers.

He hadn't suggested the destruction of Planet Vegeta to Frieza. It had actually been a snide, sarcastic comment he made when Frieza complained about the Saiyans. Jiro never actually thought he would actually act on it, but Frieza had apparently had the desire for a long time. Regardless of all the intricacies of Jiro's reluctant connection with Frieza, Vegeta could never forgive the man. After he had learned all of this, he still wanted the human dead.

"You have to admit," Kaiya sighed, "that he did pull through for me in the end. I mean, he tried to keep Jake from going after me again, and then alerted Hiei as to where I was after he got back from talking to Kakarot."

Vegeta couldn't deny how Jiro had attempted to make up for his mistakes, but he still hated the bastard. He had taken the coward's way out. Cooler had ordered the death of all the Saiyans. Yes, Jiro warned Kakarot, and then he called Hiei at Capsule Corp. when he learned Kaiya had been captured by Jake despite his command to leave her be. Jiro had been so relieved when Kaiya had awoke. He wanted his daughter to be free. He wanted Cooler defeated when he showed up. He wanted the charade to be over.

"He still wanted you dead," Vegeta reminded her. It was an undeniable fact, even if he wanted her dead so she wouldn't have to suffer Frieza's regime.

Kaiya sucked in a breath of hesitance. It pained her to remember that, especially because Jiro had given his life so that she'd be free of the PTO forever. Jake had overheard Jiro tell Kaiya the truth: that he loved her mother, had planned on marrying her, and hadn't cared about his vision of her because visions could be changed. He had been excited to learn he would be a father until he learned Frieza knew. He hadn't even joined the PTO on purpose. It was fronted as a co-ed fraternity that recruited people with higher than average power levels stationed at his college. Jiro was competitive and wanted the scholarships offered, but he never realized he'd be throwing his own life away or the lives of his fiancé and children, so he had always tried to keep everything secret. He even lied about her power level, which in actuality had been one thousand when she was born. He even risked his life by blatantly disregarding Frieza's order to return her to him. Instead he made an attempt on her life. She died, but returned as a demon, and Jiro still didn't tell her there was a tyrant that wanted her. She was left "blissfully" unaware of that danger.

All of his crimes against his daughter had been attempts to protect her from a fate worse than anything anyone could have imagined. It didn't mean Kaiya agreed with what he did, but she was hopeful that, after she and her friends stopped Jake and the other demon hunters from attacking Demon World, she and her father could repair the broken bond between them and stop Cooler together.

"You have to know something, Vegeta," Kaiya said steering the conversation away from that simple fact the prince stated. "Jiro only joined Kiense to find out why I had been protected. He became a demon hunter because he couldn't find information working for him, going legally or illegally through Spirit World, but he figured he could as a demon hunter. When he came after me, when the demon hunters came after all of us, he hadn't given the order. Jake had found his notes and passed it around everywhere. The only reason he attacked me was because Frieza wanted me on Namek…to fight you, assuming Jiro had trained me all those years instead of avoiding me. He wanted me to be your replacement."

Vegeta sneered at her admission. He figured Frieza would have had that mindset had he known he and the girl had found each other. The boy from the future had taken care of that, though, and Frieza was none the wiser to her presence. Everything she was doing now was helping her to get control of her abilities and increase her strength. Sure, she would have never been the perfect warrior according to Frieza's standards, but she was making up for the lack of training in her life. Hopefully, one day, she would surpass both Frieza's and his own expectations of her. "You would have never survived that life."

"I know," Kaiya replied with a sigh while looking up at the GR ceiling. "It's scary to think that I would have been forced into it had you not saved me."

"I didn't do it for you," Vegeta snapped harshly, though it was a lie.

Kaiya smiled and shook her head while chuckling. "It certainly wasn't for yourself. Look, I know a lot happened in ten years and that you did things I probably can't even imagine, but you did look out for me like an older brother would and I appreciate that. You did the one thing Jiro couldn't do until the very end."

Vegeta wondered what she meant, but he could feel her emotions and read her thoughts. He understood perfectly what she meant after that. He put himself in harm's way just to make sure she'd be safe. Jiro had gone about it a completely different way, and he was very twisted in what keeping her safe actually meant. In fact, it wasn't until the last moments of his life where Jiro finally took a stand for Kaiya. Instead of forcing someone else to use the Forlorn Hope and wishing for the demons to fail, he used his own life to bargain for his daughter's freedom from the PTO. She was no longer remembered by any of the PTO, including Cooler, and any files or records of her were completely erased.

Vegeta had been angered. Jiro had denied him the taste of victory. The Saiyan prince had been ready to end the man but, in Vegeta's opinion, Jiro took the easy way out. It didn't matter to him if Kaiya had been erased from the memories of the PTO. The PTO barely held together after Frieza's and King Cold's death. Cooler was rumored to be stronger, but it didn't mean he could handle the stragglers. After all, Vegeta had taken care of most of them. Jiro was just trying to avoid his punishment.

"I know you believe that," Kaiya stated, "as much as you believe that I was trying to convince you to stay. I wasn't, you know."

She wasn't lying, but Vegeta still didn't care. He was confused by her words and demeanor from that night. "You didn't seem like it."

Kaiya just laughed sadly. "I was in shock and emotional," she told him. "I don't even know what I was saying. I was trying to make sense of my life. It all is just really complicated. I've been lied to by someone who was supposed to be there for me, who actually did care about me but made me believe that he didn't.

"It's just so much clearer, though. I'm not what anyone expected me to be, and that was the path I chose. I had the option to become the 'perfect soldier' or whatever multiple times, but I didn't take it. When it seemed like I was dissuading you from leaving, I was really just trying to tell you that there is more than one path. If something doesn't feel right to you in the future, you can adjust your life. It's not set in stone, not black and white. After the androids, you can either leave or stay, or even just come back to visit. We are what we make ourselves to be, not what others expected of us."

Vegeta nodded his agreement, surprised that she spoke so eloquently. As he listened, he realized that she finally had some clarity from the events months prior. It seemed like she had less confusion about her double life. "You seem to be doing better," he pointed out.

"Yeah," she answered weakly. "I sometimes still feel like things could have been different, but it was Jiro's choice to live the way he did. If things were different, though, I may not have ever met you…or been alive to meet you. You might not have ever stayed around Earth and had a kid. I wouldn't want any of this changed, you know?"

Vegeta still didn't know how he felt about having a son, but clearly Kaiya was happy with it. "Sure," he responded, starting to feel the happenings of sleep. "I guess we can call it a night."

"Please, keep me posted on your training?" his sister questioned hopefully. "I can't wait until you come back."

"Hm," Vegeta murmured as he started to drift off. Thankfully, his mind became silent after that. He was starting to get better at the mental blockade, but when he slept he counted on Kaiya keeping her thoughts quiet. Some nights, it was difficult for her since she worried over the most foolish things, but nights like this were what Vegeta liked. Her mind was silent and so was his.

He now understood why Kaiya had told him she wasn't going to help him figure out their connection problem. Honestly, there was nothing she could do, or that he could do, except erect mental barriers. No one, not even Koenma, understood how to cut the connection or how they could be connected in the first place. It turns out that Kaiya was completely right.

It was something they'd have to figure out for themselves.


	2. Part I: Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, Dragon Ball Z, or the characters. Just my OCs.

* * *

A girl giggled as her "fiancé" was kissing her neck. "Stop that," Kaiya murmured against her pillow.

Above her, Hiei was smirking. In the past year, a lot had changed between the two. As Kaiya had told Bulma, she and Hiei met with both sides of her family, and it was admitted to her mother's parents that Hiei was a demon and Kaiya had the blood of a demon and Saiyan running through her veins. Her grandmother went nuts, especially when she mentioned her intentions to marry the fire demon which apparently terrified the old woman. It took a lot of convincing to get her on board, but when Kaiya explained more about demons and the misconceptions, for example getting married in a church, she backed off, but still eyed Hiei warily. The fire demon honestly didn't care. He knew he had gotten approval by the only people Kaiya actually respected. Kaiya knew the same when it came to him and those he deemed important.

Of course, they had been lectured on their living arrangements, though Kaiya's mother just told them to do what they wanted and to ignore her mother. The family wanted to plan a wedding for two years later, because everyone would have to save to head to Japan. Kaiya agree, but she and Hiei decided to get married right away and go through an actual ceremony later. Two months later, they returned to Japan and found a minister. They kept it secret from everyone, including their friends, not wanting it to get back to Kaiya's family…and to avoid Yusuke's jokes. Mostly to avoid Yusuke's jokes. They figured they'd tell everyone eventually. The only one who truly knew was Yukina and that was only because of a slipup on her brother's part. Kaiya would tease him about how long he kept his and Yukina's sibling-ship a secret for almost a decade since he first met her, but couldn't keep the fact that they were married a secret for a few months.

In addition to their nuptials, Kaiya had also graduated from college during the year, and was now working on a graduate program. Both Yukina and Bulma had given birth to healthy children and took to motherhood quickly. Kuwabara was still in the process of learning how to balance children, a job, and training, but he was doing well himself. With the threat of the androids looming ahead, everyone was still training. That wasn't going to change any time soon.

"You're infernal phone alarm woke me up," Hiei stated matter-of-factly. "I don't have to stop anything." To illustrate his point, Hiei pulled her towards him and kissed her forcefully.

Kaiya managed to pull away from him, laughing the entire time. "There's a reason I had that alarm set, you know," she replied.

"You don't have classes today."

When he looked confused, she smiled. "I have to get to my new job."

"Job?" Hiei repeated. "What job?"

It was Kaiya's turn to look confused as both of them sat up. "D-Didn't I tell you?" she asked nervously. "My advisor wanted me to become a teaching assistant. I have to teach a biology lab course."

"Hn," the fire demon scoffed. "Sounds annoying. You've been giving the task of babysitting."

Kaiya laughed lightly. "It's not going to be that bad. I was an undergraduate once before too, you know."

Hiei looked at her in disbelief. "You were competent."

"Not all humans are incompetent, koi," Kaiya tried. "Besides, I don't know how competent I was considering I was so volatile I could set things on fire without control."

"…Point taken," her husband replied. "Fine, whatever. I'm surprised you didn't say anything."

Kaiya became confused again. "I thought I did," she admitted. "Maybe I dreamt it…I don't know. Anyways, not important. I'll see you after the class. I need to leave very soon."

Hiei nodded. "I'll be training with the others at the temple."

"Tell Yukina I said 'hi,'" Kaiya requested. "And give the kids a kiss for me."

Hiei glared at her. "I'm not going to do that."

"It was worth a shot," Kaiya chuckled. "Enjoy your time with them, though."

She left the room before Hiei could counter, smirking slightly at the fact that Hiei still tried to act tough. She saw how he was with his little niece and nephew. She always knew he would be good with children despite his own upbringing. He hadn't been convinced until the twins were born.

Hearing a giggle from downstairs, Kaiya smiled. Just hearing her own little nephew made her feel joy. She couldn't believe Vegeta wasn't there, but Trunks eased her sadness regarding her brother's departure. She often wondered how Vegeta would feel when he was thrown into the life of fatherhood. Her secondary alarm rang breaking her free from her reverie. Quickly, she zoomed down the stairs and into the kitchen to grab breakfast.

* * *

Bulma had been in the kitchen reading a magazine while feeding Trunks. She had always been good at multitasking, which helped her adjust to motherhood well. She was thankful, though, that she had help. Kaiya was always willing to watch Trunks when she had no classes, and even Hiei seemed to be helpful. There were times where Trunks was a little too fussy for her, and either of the two helped her out so that she wouldn't accidentally get hurt by the half-Saiyan. Overall, though, Trunks was an easy baby. He still had his moments.

"Hm, just like your father, huh Trunks?" Bulma teased. Her little boy cocked his head to the side making the proud mother smile.

It had been a really long time since Bulma had been out, since before she had found out she was pregnant. She hadn't seen any of her friends in that time, and knew she probably wouldn't see them until the androids arrived. Chuckling, she thought about how they'd react to finding out she had a baby, especially one with Vegeta. Then she froze for minute thinking she may have forgotten something important.

"Hey, Bulma."

Bulma looked over to the kitchen doorway and saw Yamcha standing there awkwardly. He had a smile on his face until his eyes fell on Trunks. "Hey, who's the kid?" he asked. Then he noticed the tail. "Oh, don't tell me you're watching that girl's kid, Bulma."

Yeah, she had forgotten something…telling Yamcha anything about what had been going on with her. He had been out training on his own for a while that she didn't get the chance. He must have just gotten back. "No, Yamcha," she responded. "He's not Kaiya's son. He's mine."

Yamcha's nearly bugged out, because he could already tell what that meant. "Are you serious, Bulma? You mean he's-"

He didn't even get his assumption out before Kaiya nearly flew into the kitchen and quickly grabbed herself a plate of food. She sat down at the table scarfing down the food, oblivious to the clear tension in the room. Both Bulma and Yamcha were watching her as she ate her meal. The second she was done, she ruffled Trunks's hair, and the baby laughed reaching for her hand.

"How's my favorite nephew doing this morning?" she asked. When Bulma didn't answer, Kaiya finally took note of her surroundings and looked over to Yamcha. "Oh…it's you."

Yamcha cast a heatless glare to the girl, irritated by her tone. "What a way to greet people," he muttered sarcastically. "Where's your boyfriend?"

"Fiancé," Kaiya corrected.

Yamcha looked a little surprised, but shook it off. He didn't really care about Kaiya's personal life. Bulma, though, he had dated for years, and she apparently had a child with a homicidal Saiyan. And surprisingly, he couldn't sense that Saiyan anywhere.

"You're up early," Bulma remarked, avoiding bringing Kaiya into hers and Yamcha's conversation. "Where are you headed?"

Kaiya grabbed an apple from a bowl in the center of the table. "I'm a teaching assistant for a biology lab at the university. It's the first week of lab classes, so I have to head over there and get everything set up…and then hope I don't suck at teaching."

Bulma laughed a bit, Yamcha still standing rigidly in the middle of her kitchen. "I'm sure you'll do fine, Kaiya," Bulma assured her. "Is Hiei still upstairs?"

Kaiya nodded once. "He's going to train at Genkai's today, though. I'll probably head over there after class. Unless you need me to watch Trunks. I can take him if you need to-"

"It's okay," Bulma replied with a smile. "You go train with your friends. Besides, Hiei never seems to want to be away from you for too long. I swear; you two act more like newlyweds than being engaged."

Kaiya started laughing nervously. "Heh, that would be something, wouldn't it? My grandmother would probably go ballistic. After all, we couldn't possible get married without the whole family here."

Bulma smirked, knowing the reason the girl was acting so nervously. She had found out when she saw the bill for the credit card. She didn't mind at all that the two decided buy wedding bands and also an engagement ring for a cover. They thought she only knew about the engagement ring seeing as Kaiya asked her for help fire- and ki-proofing the ring. Somehow she figured something out. The wedding bands, though, they wore on chains as a necklace, hiding them. Bulma noticed the chains many times. She decided to let them keep their secrets, though. She knew the reasons since Kaiya had confided everything to her.

"Anyways, I need to head out now," Kaiya stated. She quickly gave Trunks a kiss on the forehead. "Be good for your mom, today, okay nephew?" Trunks responded by gurgling as he sucked on his spoon. Kaiya smiled over towards Bulma. "You have a good day, too, okay?

Bulma waved the girl off, and Kaiya grabbed her bag and nearly took off out the back door. She froze the second she touched the handle. Both Bulma and Yamcha noticed the strange action. The scarred warrior spoke up first. "You all right over there?"

Kaiya turned, her face slightly pale, but she regained her composure and smiled. "Yeah, I just thought I forgot something." She looked directly at Bulma. "I'm okay, though. I'll see you and Trunks tomorrow."

And with that, the human/demon/Saiyan hybrid was out of sight.

Yamcha looked over to Bulma, their earlier tension missing completely. "What was that about?"

Bulma's eyes met his. She seemed a little nervous. "Honestly, I have no idea."

* * *

Elsewhere in the universe, news was given, and the receiver was not amused. Cooler looked out into the vast reaches of space as his loyal follower, Salza, was reporting that Jiro was not responding to any calls. After the Arcosian had learned of the fall of his father and brother, he had mandated that the human psychic eliminate all existing Saiyans, the last two remaining full-blooded Saiyans. If there were others, the human was supposed to end them. Part of Cooler felt like there was something more to his order, but the fleeting feeling left him.

The only explanation of Jiro's ignorance had to be his fall. It was a known fact that humans were weaker than most races, especially the Saiyans. Considering one of those remaining Saiyans was responsible for his brother's defeat, it had been a longshot even with the psychic's electrical abilities.

"What are your orders, Lord Cooler?" Salza asked, kneeling down behind his master.

"I think it's high time we pay the Saiyans a visit," the Arcosian stated evenly. "I will finish what my brother started." He didn't intend to leave a single Saiyan alive.

* * *

Goku wiped the sweat from his brow after a sparring session with his former rival and flashed the Namekian his famous, Son grin. "You haven't been slacking off, huh?"

Piccolo scoffed and shook his head. "With the warning we received, I doubt anyone has been 'slacking off.'"

"Everyone needs a break eventually," Goku retorted. "Hey, that's a good idea!"

Piccolo eyed the Saiyan warily. "What is?"

Goku grew excited and jumped up. "Maybe we should all go on a camping trip this week," he suggested. "It would be the perfect break."

"I'll pass," Piccolo grumbled. "Now, I have my own personal training to work on. Shall we spar again tomorrow?"

"Yeah, no doubt," Goku agreed. "Gohan will be joining us, too."

Piccolo smirked slightly. It had been a while since Gohan had trained with them seeing as his mother refused to let him train most of the time. It would be a nice change of pace and a good opportunity to get the demi-Saiyan back into shape before the androids arrived.

After Piccolo flew away, Goku had another thought. "Hm…I wonder if Kaiya would want to come, too. We haven't seen her in a while." The full-blooded Saiyan couldn't help but wonder how the girl was fairing since everything that had happened. He figured she could use a break, too.

* * *

Despite being held up by her husband, Kaiya managed to make it to the school on time. All of her students were there, ready to go, and that's when Kaiya saw someone she never expected to see in any of her classes. "Yusuke?" she nearly shrieked causing the spirit detective to look up in surprise.

When he saw Kaiya, he just gaped at her before smiling at his friend. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm teaching," she answered. "I should be asking you that!"

"No time," Yusuke countered pointing to the clock. "Get teaching. We'll talk after."

Kaiya couldn't believe that one of her friends was in her class…and Yusuke of all people! She didn't even realize he had decided to go to school. He seemed really happy running his ramen cart. Well, it wouldn't be so bad having someone she knew in the class. Anytime she got nervous, she could always look at him and act as if she was explaining the concepts to her friends like she normally did. Nothing could go wrong with this.

* * *

Class went by quickly, and Kaiya felt relief of having made it through her talk with enough time to spare. Yusuke stayed behind after the majority of the people left and went up to talk to her. Kaiya looked at him expectantly as she worked on gathering her books and everyone's pre-labs.

"Yeah," Yusuke said sucking in a breath of air, "Keiko kind of convinced me to do this."

"You're kidding," Kaiya said quietly. "Why? I thought she was good with you running a ramen cart. Your food is amazing."

"Thanks," Yusuke chuckled. "Yeah, she's fine with it, but she said I should have something to fall back on and then convinced me biology would help me with fighting. So far, it's dull as shit."

Kaiya rolled her eyes. "Biology is actually really interesting once you get past the initial work," she explained, "and there are classes you can take that can teach you things you could utilize when fighting."

"Seriously?" Yusuke questioned. "Yeah, do me a favor and don't tell Keiko she was right, then."

"I won't," the girl replied with a smile. "It'll be interesting to-"

"Hey, princess," one of Kaiya's other students said leaning against her desk. "You busy later?"

Yusuke and Kaiya exchanged glances. "You know," Yusuke started, "I would find this totally funny that he got your title pegged if I didn't know our mutual friend would tear him limb from limb…"

The teenager eyed Yusuke like he was crazy when Kaiya held out her hand and pointed to her ring. "I'm engaged," she said to the student, "and your teacher, and a bit too old for you. Better luck next time."

The student "harrumphed" and left the two muttering a slew of curses under his breath. "I'm sure that guy will be causing a few problems," Kaiya muttered in irritation.

"Yeah, I'm not too worried about that guy," Yusuke stated. "That was a bit awkward, though."

Kaiya couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh, right," she remarked. "Don't tell me you wouldn't have at least joked about it had the teacher been a woman other than me."

Her friend smiled sheepishly. "Keep that from Keiko, too, okay? Anyways, let's head to Genkai's. I know everyone was meeting up for training today."

The girl shook her head at his quick change in subject and finished packing up her stuff. The two of them began to leave the room when Kaiya froze in her spot and got a distant look in her eyes. Yusuke stopped when he noticed she was no longer beside him. When he saw her, he quickly walked back over to her and waved his hand in front of her face until she regained control of her senses.

Kaiya stopped his hand from waving in front of her face and had the look of terror plastered on her face. "Kaiya, where the hell did you go just now?" he asked forcefully.

"I…" Kaiya whispered softly. "I honestly don't know."

"You're not supposed to be having blackouts anymore," Yusuke interjected.

"No," Kaiya confirmed. "And it wasn't a blackout. I…felt something. I don't know what it is."

"Was this the first time you sensed whatever it is?" Yusuke asked as the two of them started heading to a parking lot.

Kaiya didn't answer right away. It was the second time that it happened in one day, some sort of premonition she didn't understand. Still, she wasn't certain about it and didn't want to worry her friend. If she admitted that she had zoned out before, Yusuke would probably get the others riled up. "Let's just head to Genkai's," Kaiya said with a smile. "I'll give you a ride."

Yusuke paused and watched Kaiya walk ahead of him, not buying her act. It was probably because of all that had happened with her, but even he knew she had a habit of playing things off even if they were severe. _Must be that Saiyan pride thing of hers,_ he thought before he began to follow her again. He only hoped she'd let either Hiei or Genkai know about her premonitions this time.

* * *

Vegeta had been training on a small, nearly uninhabited planet for about six or seven months. He honestly hadn't been keeping track of the time. A lot had happened back on Earth, a lot that he wasn't certain he liked. It had taken a long time for him to learn to put a wall up, and when tired it was still a struggle. He caught himself wondering how Kaiya did it. She was able to keep herself from entering his mind and seeing what he was doing. He knew she was doing it to respect his privacy, something he appreciated very much.

Unfortunately, he couldn't hold up the mental block for more than ten hours a day. It was progress considering at first he could only hold it a few minutes. He knew it had to do with training his spiritual energy…whatever the heck that was…and it was taking a while to get a full grasp on it. Though similar to ki, spiritual energy came from one's own soul. There could be emotional blocks on the energy, or at least that's what he heard Kaiya think one night, maybe giving him another hint. He was desperate to reach that level but, like with becoming a Super Saiyan, it only made the goal seem more difficult to reach.

During the past year, he had garnered a lot of information just from being cued into Kaiya's emotions and mind. The girl had handled herself well with her family, telling them the truth of everything that had happened to her. Her emotions regarding her father were still all over the place, but after spending time with the man's family, she was able to bury them, at least for now. She and Hiei were "married," the Earthling term for mated, yet they kept it a secret. Why they kept it a secret, Vegeta didn't know. He wasn't sure he was too thrilled, though, with them doing everything in secret. It was as if they felt like they had something to hide.

That wasn't the only thing Vegeta was unsure of. He also didn't know how he felt about being a father. Kaiya communicated images to him through telepathy allowing him to see the boy. The child, though young, was already very active…almost at training age. Vegeta knew it would be a while before the boy could be trained, but he didn't know if he even wanted to be a father. At the same time, he remembered Jiro and his actions, angering him more than anything. He had once told Kaiya that even though he had never wanted their connection, she was there. Now this boy…Trunks…he was there, too. Vegeta knew he wouldn't be as bad as the human psychic, but he also didn't want to be close with the child or the woman. He still wasn't sure how he ended up in bed with her in the first place.

Out of nowhere, he caught a conversation between his sister and the human/demon hybrid spirit detective that was her friend. _"Seriously, Kaiya…something's up,"_ the detective noted. _"You can't lie to me. You just spaced out…AGAIN! Second time today!"_

" _Third…"_ Kaiya muttered quietly. _"Yusuke, it's nothing. I just sense something big coming up. It's a premonition. For all we know, it could be a premonition about the androids."_

" _Yeah, the things coming in two years. But we KNOW they're coming. Premonitions are supposed to be about the unknown…at least that's what Kuwabara says."_

Vegeta could feel Kaiya's distress and shook his head. Unfortunately he couldn't block her out now, for he was regaining his small amount of spirit energy. He felt something familiar, though, regarding her premonition. She felt the familiarity, too.

" _Yusuke…"_ the princess whispered. _"I need to say something, but you can't freak out."_

" _Fine,"_ Yusuke replied. _"Now what's going on?"_

" _Something big is coming,"_ Kaiya reiterated. _"And it feels really, really close. It feels…strong, and dark and sinister. We may be in trouble."_

Vegeta snorted. "That's an understatement," he remarked to himself, knowing his sister couldn't hear him. "That force feels a lot like Frieza, though stronger. There's only one being in the universe with that type of strength."

Yes, Vegeta could tell that Kaiya was sensing Cooler. It didn't surprise him seeing as Jiro had been reporting to him. He wasn't going to get involved, though. He still had his own training to do, and he had the feeling that those already present on Earth could deal with the Arcosian. Vegeta didn't care about the tyrant, nor was he going to allow himself to be concerned. He wouldn't even warn the girl. She was going to need to learn to handle these types of things herself. With the androids' impending arrival, she needed to be toughened up. This situation would do just that.

* * *

At Genkai's, Hiei was sitting outside with his sister taking a break from sparring with Kurama and Kuronue. She was holding her baby girl who was the spitting image of his younger twin. The child's name was Aiko, and she had this sweet air about her that her mother possessed. Yukina's son, Kan, was on the floor trying to gain his uncle's attention. Hiei eventually surrendered to the boy and placed him on his lap. Usually he tried to avoid the displays of affection, but he knew he'd have to get past that when it was his own children. His little niece and nephew were perfect practice for him. His presence in their lives only served to make his sister happy as well. To pay her back for all the years he kept silent, he planned to suck it up and be there for her and her children, regardless of his feelings concerning their father.

"I'm really happy that you're here for the twins," Yukina confided in him, smiling warmly. "I always knew they'd need their uncle."

"Hn," Hiei responded. He didn't have much to say. Their people despised male influence on their members. He knew, though he truly didn't care, that they would not agree with his sister's statement.

Yukina didn't say anything else. She allowed silence to envelope them again before she grinned over to her older brother. "So," she began, "when are you and Kaiya going to have kids?"

Hiei had been taking a sip of tea when his sister asked her question, and nearly choked on the droplets that he inhaled through his shock. He gaped at the ice maiden, her smile never leaving her. "One step at a time," Hiei said hoarsely trying to regain his composure. "We're still 'engaged,' remember?"

Yukina frowned at this. "Hiei, why are the two of you keeping it a secret?" she asked. "I understand her family, but from everyone? Why won't you say anything?"

Hiei sighed and shook his head. "Yukina, things are complicated right now," Hiei explained. "It is mostly to give Kaiya's maternal grandmother the satisfaction of seeing at least one of her grandchildren married in a church, for whatever reason… As for the others, we plan to tell them soon. We honestly just wanted some time for ourselves before everyone starts asking questions. That is all."

Yukina understood and gave her brother a nod. She and Kuwabara had done the same thing when they had mated. The only reason that had changed was the fact that the ice maiden had reached her hundredth year. At that, Yukina had only gone to Kaiya to begin with since she needed to know how to broach the topic with her protective older brother. "I'm really glad the two of you got ma…have each other."

Hiei smirked, blushing slightly as he thought of his wife. It was strange to him, using human terminology when he had always despised the human plain. It was at that moment that Kaiya and Yusuke showed up at Genkai's temple. Hiei glanced over to his wife and saw the serious look Yusuke only got when there was trouble, and the panic Kaiya always expressed when she had a vision or premonition. He quickly got up and began following the two into the temple as Kuwabara was coming out. Hiei gently shoved his nephew into the arms of his father, his own eyes fixated on his woman.

As he neared her, Kaiya latched onto him, gripping his arm tight. "Onna, what is going on?"

But Kaiya didn't answer. She looked over to Yusuke, her eyes begging him to explain for her.

"Your fiancé has been having premonitions all morning," he informed the fire demon. The detective looked over at his anxious friend. "And we're still trying to figure out why."


	3. Part I: Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH, DBZ, or the characters. Just OCs…a lot of them…haha!

* * *

Gohan was flying over to Capsule Corp., a smile on his face. His father had returned from training with Piccolo and proposed a camping trip. He decided to task his son with inviting Kaiya while he discussed the trip with his wife. She was starting to crack down on Gohan's studying once again, so convincing her to let him pass on his work was becoming increasingly more difficult.

The young Saiyan was excited for the trip, and was looking forward to spending time with everyone. He hadn't seen Kaiya in a long time. The girl had been busy with trips, training, and school. His mom had kept him busy with a ton of work as well. He really hoped she'd agree to go camping with them. He always had fun talking with the other demi-Saiyan. She probably needed a break, too.

Gohan reached the compound and found Bulma outside barbequing. He landed near the woman and greeted her. His arrival had startled the blue-haired scientist whose mind seemed to be elsewhere.

"Hey, kid," she greeted fondly, "it's been a while. What brings you here?"

The young Saiyan could hear a hint of exhaustion in Bulma's voice, so he figured he'd make his visit quick. "I was wondering if Kaiya was home," he explained. "Dad thinks we should go camping this weekend and wanted to invite her."

Bulma smiled at the boy. "That sounds like a great idea," she told him, "and I happen to know that Kaiya loves camping. She convinced Vegeta to go camping with her and her friends before. She's not here right now, though."

"Where is she?" Gohan asked curiously.

"She's at her old master's place," Bulma informed him. "It's somewhere in the mountains, though I'm not sure where."

"That's okay," Gohan replied. "I'll search for her ki. Thanks."

Bulma called out, "Anytime!" as Gohan flew off. He quickly searched for the other demi-Saiyan's ki and his face fell. It was so elevated, as if she were in danger. Her friends seemed to be with her though, and they all seemed calm. The boy couldn't help but wonder what was going on as he made his way to Genkai's temple.

* * *

Kaiya was shaking, terrified over whatever it was she was feeling. Her sister-in-law handed her a mug full of chamomile tea and sat with her. Hiei sat on the other side of her grasping her hand, a silent reassurance that she was not alone. "Why didn't you say anything?" he asked her, though Kaiya shook her head not wanting to answer him. He sighed and laced their fingers together, feeling her hands shake.

"I was hoping it was a fluke," Kaiya admitted. "I didn't want whatever I was feeling to be real. I'm honestly really scared. I've only felt this way with two other beings, and well…"

Everyone knew, so they didn't force her to say anything. Instead, they attempted to figure out what her premonitions meant. "So what's the plan?" Yusuke asked, looking to his team, a serious air taking over his being.

"I'm pretty sure we all know what's out there," Kurama stated. "It was only a matter of time before he showed up."

"Don't," Kaiya whispered. "Don't talk like that. It can't be. He's not supposed to remember anything about me, right?"

"Doesn't change the fact that he knew your brother or that other guy were here," Kuwabara pointed out.

Kaiya shook her head. "It can't be it."

"You can be in denial all you want," Hiei said to her, "but that doesn't mean it's not true. I can already sense someone with a high power level, though it's really far away. There's no telling when exactly this guy is showing up."

"Who is he?" Yukina asked, gaining a lot of concerned stares. "W-What?"

"Trust me," Kaiya told her sister-in-law, "you don't want to know."

"Know what?"

At that moment, Gohan flew to the doorway of the temple and landed gently as to not damage the wooden porch. When Kaiya saw him, her breath caught in her throat. "Gohan," she choked out. "What are you doing here?"

The young boy wasn't oblivious to the other demi-Saiyan's anxiety, but he perked up to try and reassure her while extending the invitation. "Dad said we're going camping this weekend," the little Saiyan chimed. "He wanted to know if you'd want to come with us."

Kaiya's heart nearly stopped, but Hiei took her hand and dragged her attention to him. _You should go_ , he told her in her mind. _There's no telling when this Cooler guy will show up. It'll be an opportunity to talk to Goku about him before he shows up._

 _I don't want to believe Cooler is coming,_ Kaiya reminded him. _He ordered my father to kill all of us._

 _You have to put that aside for now,_ Hiei told her. _Just tell Goku. I'm sure he'll be able to think of something. The energy still feels really far away._

 _True…_

 _Just accept._

"Um, Kaiya?" Gohan called out. "Are you okay?"

Kaiya's attention snapped to him. "I'm fine," she lied, forcing a smile. "I would love to go camping with you guys. It'll be fun."

"Great!" the little Saiyan exclaimed in excitement. "I'll let my dad know. See you this weekend!"

The spirit detective gang watched as the little boy took off to the sky. "I'm not going to ever get used to this," Yusuke stated. He looked over to Kaiya. "So, what do you wanna do?"

"I'll talk to Kakarot this weekend," Kaiya answered. "I'm sure we'll be able to figure something out. I just wish I knew how far away Cooler was. I mean, I can sense his energy, but Hiei pointed out that it still seems so far away."

"We don't know anything about space travel," Kuwabara reminded her. "You might want to talk to Bulma too, or even get in touch with your brother."

"He's in the middle of training right now," Kaiya explained. "I'm blocked out for the time being. Besides, I wouldn't be surprised if he already knew."

"And not say anything?" Kurama asked skeptically.

Kaiya smiled, though it was a sad smile. "He could be testing me," she pointed out. "You never know."

Hiei rolled his eyes. _You already know, don't you? From when the block was down._

 _Be nice, koi,_ Kaiya ordered. _Don't say anything. You know how he is._

 _Whatever._

"I guess we just go through the week normally?" Yusuke stated unsure. "Then deal with this when this guy's energy is closer?"

"Basically," Kaiya answered. "If it's him."

"How long will you be in denial this time?" Kuwabara grumbled.

Kaiya chuckled. "Just give me today," she stated. "I'd like to worry about everything tomorrow."

* * *

Kaiya's friends gave her what she wanted, to let her be in denial the rest of the night. Of course, she hadn't truly been in denial. She knew what was coming their way. Hiei knew she was only appearing to be in denial because she didn't want to linger on the fact that her father's sacrifice may have been in vain. "What am I going to do?" she asked Hiei once they were alone.

"Nothing alone," he assured her. "We know it's Cooler. You've had this type of premonition when Jiro showed up and then the day Frieza set foot on the planet. There's no denying that."

"I haven't fought like my brother or the Z fighters before," Kaiya pointed out. "No matter what training I've gone through…I just don't know if I can…"

"Stop talking like that," Hiei chided. "You aren't a child anymore. You can't let your fears hold you back. You can fight, and you can fight well. You know that."

"I do know that," Kaiya replied, "but I also know that I can't fight to the death. Do you honestly think I can deal a finishing blow, even if it's to someone like Frieza? I'm still not even close to my brother's strength when he was on Namek."

"Stop," Hiei ordered again. "You can't doubt yourself. Talk to Goku. I doubt he'd let you fight alone. Vegeta's taught you enough skills for both defense and offense. You're going to be fine."

Kaiya really wanted to believe that, but at the same time she knew herself better than anyone. She had a soft side that she couldn't deny any longer. Everyone had known it, even before her last Spirit World mission. Genkai had trained her to control her spirit energy, but Hiei was the one who taught her to fight, take hits, and defend herself. Vegeta, he taught her to fight on offense and with her ki. She knew she was strong, maybe not the strongest, but strong. She could fight and defend herself from her enemies, at least at this stage in her life. Still, even when she had an enemy at her mercy, she couldn't bring herself to kill. She mentally thanked Vegeta for sending her back to Earth as a child, for she would have never survived under Frieza. She still wished that he would have come with her, that all the Saiyans had come with her, but any time she thought that Vegeta would remind her that Frieza would have found them anyway.

From what Jiro had implied, Cooler was much worse than his brother. Kaiya didn't even want to imagine anyone worse than how her father had treated her or how Frieza had beaten and experimented on her. She shuddered at the thought and caught Hiei's attention. Being born early, Kaiya was usually cold despite being a fire demon, but she used her spirit energy and ki to warm herself up unless weakened. When she shivered like that, she was tense and afraid. Hiei sighed and shook his head before pulling her close and covering them with a blanket.

"Sleep," he ordered. "Tomorrow, before your classes, we'll train. Whatever is holding you back, you'll have to shake it off."

Kaiya nodded, only to appease her husband and nestled against him. She was still shaking, terrified, and vulnerable, but she felt a lot safer in Hiei's arms. It had been months since the mission in Greece, and she still remembered the moment Kiense saved her from needing to kill. She knew she couldn't always have that safety net, but she couldn't break through that. She was more terrified to kill than to be killed, and that was something she never expected her mate or brother to understand.

So instead, she kept it to herself in the dark recesses of her mind where neither could find. It was an issue they couldn't help her with given their pasts. Vegeta would tell her to get over it and just attack. Hiei, knowing her as well as he did, would probably be gentler, but still tell her to just get past it. They were raised differently than she was, and that mindset saved their lives. Kaiya had already been saved from that lifestyle. She got to live in a somewhat peaceful world, compared to the men in her life a utopia. Their skillset and morals were different from hers. She had accepted that, but it was something that would eventually put her life in danger. She wasn't a child or stupid. She knew it would.

Especially with Cooler out there.

Since the guys had drawn the conclusion that the premonition was a warning about the Arcosian, she hadn't had a momentary pause from the sensation. There was no blackout moments, or what appeared to be blackout moments. She couldn't deny that Cooler was on his way to Earth and that she had been forewarned. It wasn't like when she envisioned her own death at Jiro's hands, when she didn't know she had her father's gift of visions.

 _Heh, gift,_ she mentally scoffed, _more like a curse. They never even help, and I can't even tell what's a dream or what's real._

That was something else she planned to keep from her husband…

* * *

The week went by in a blur, and Hiei was training with Kaiya more every day, the latter giving up the week to study. For once, she was willing to chance her exams the next week, especially if she wanted to make it to the following week. Though the premonitions ceased, Cooler's energy was still encroaching. Once he was closer to the planet, Kaiya knew. Before, they had just been sensing his presence out there because of the premonition. Now, they could physically feel the energy. Cooler was closer, but Kaiya still had no idea when he would land. It was a good thing she would be seeing Goku and his friends that night. He had to know more about space travel and be able to estimate when Cooler would land.

"Ready?"

Kaiya looked to the doorway to hers and Hiei's room to see her mate standing there. He looked stern and serious, though Kaiya could read past his usual façade. She flashed him a weak smile and continued packing up her bag slowly. "Yeah, just bringing a couple more outfits. I'm pretty sure I'll get some sparring done, and you know how quickly I go through clothes when that happens."

Hiei grimaced when he heard Kaiya force a chuckle. After years of seeing her at her best and worst, he knew she was covering, to not concern him or their friends. "You have to stop doing that," Hiei growled slightly. "Pretending to be fine has gotten you into a lot of trouble before. No matter how hard you try to hide it, anyone can tell you are bothered."

"What would you have me do?" Kaiya questioned with a sigh. She turned to his and crossed her arms, loosely hugging herself. "If me trying to hide it can tell everyone how freaked out I am, can you imagine me allowing myself to freak out? I can't just bury what I'm feeling inside. I wasn't 'trained' to do that."

Hiei scoffed slightly, and against his better judgement, let something slip out. "You weren't trained for much of anything." When he caught himself, his mouth dropped open and he quickly corrected himself. "Not until a few years ago."

"Nice save," the hybrid muttered, rolling her eyes. "Look, I don't need a lecture. I'm still trying to take this one step at a time. I'm not used to this. Missions, somewhat known threats, sure…but this? A creepy, alien tyrant, that supposedly won't remember me, heading towards the planet? As of about a year and a half ago, I didn't even believe aliens were real, and then apparently had memories of aliens…and am one…" She released another, heavy sigh, and Hiei could almost feel how heavy her spirit was feeling. "I still don't know what to do with it all. Every time I have a moment to just be and exist in all of this, something happens and throws a curveball, and I'm reminded how much I haven't come to terms with everything."

"Understandable," Hiei finally admitted as he sweat-dropped. He honestly couldn't deny that Kaiya barely had any time to adjust, but she had to learn that she couldn't always afford that luxury. Of course, he had a century to learn that. Kaiya was still on her second decade of life, very young in the grand scheme of things. Where age really didn't mean anything in demon world, it did translate to experience. She had experienced a lot, but compared to many demons, she hadn't even scratched the surface. "Then, don't come to terms with any of it now. Use the animosity you have towards that confusion and pain to fight when it comes down to the wire."

 _Easier said than done,_ Kaiya grumbled in her mind. She had to admit Hiei had made a good point, but fighting with emotions was usually what got her into trouble. She hadn't yet figured how to turn that off. "Any other advice for me?"

"Never turn your back on the opponent," Hiei said after a moment of silence. The intensity of his fiery gaze stunned Kaiya. "Never give the bastard a chance to attack you or get you alone."

Words failed Kaiya, so she just nodded in response before Hiei guided her face to his and kissed her roughly. He then disappeared from the room, leaving the hybrid shocked with a racing heart. He cast her one last thought. _Be careful, and come back alive._

A small smile appeared on the girl's face, knowing how much her mate cared for her despite rarely saying so. She knew her moods weren't easy to live with and that, regardless of their similarities, they came from completely different worlds with different attitudes and outlooks. _I will_ , she answered confidently, something inside of her finally believing she would make it, if not for herself, then for those she loved.

For the moment, she wasn't terrified of Cooler.

* * *

A/N: Not really sure how I felt about the chapter, but it was a big plot progression thing to just get to the camping trip and Cooler's appearance. Now, I need to re-watch that movie to do any fighting justice…wish me luck!


	4. Part I: Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ, YYH, or the characters. Just my OCs

* * *

"Hey, guys, you ready to go fishing?"

Kaiya looked up from the fire she had started only to find Goku ready to head to the river. She smiled, but still felt the overwhelming sense of dread consuming her body. She had hoped that the feeling would lessen over the course of the week, but it had only gotten worse. She knew she needed to talk to Goku about all of this, but she didn't want to bring Gohan's attention to the possibility of another threat. "Actually, Kakarot, before we go…could I talk to you about something?"

Sensing the seriousness of Kaiya's tone, Goku's expression became slightly grim. "Sure, Kaiya. We'll be back in a minute, guys."

He waved off his son, his son's pet dragon, Icarus, and other friends, Krillin and Oolong, and then followed Kaiya off to somewhere in the forest. He was surprised to find the girl leaning against a tree with her arms crossed, gripping her arms tightly. She looked really upset. "Um, Kaiya, are you okay?"

"Do you not feel it?"

The Saiyan looked at the girl in confusion and rubbed the back of his neck. "Feel what?"

"My father…he told you about someone like Frieza, his brother, Cooler, right?"

"What about him?" Goku asked.

"He's coming," Kaiya replied. "I don't know when, but I know he's coming. I kept getting these premonitions, and I can just feel his presence out there. We need to be on alert."

Goku didn't really understand what she meant about feeling someone's presence. He hadn't felt any energies, but it was clear to him that Kaiya truly believed Cooler was coming. It wouldn't have surprised the Saiyan. When Jiro had spoken to him of the Arcosian, he could tell he was just as bad if not worse than Frieza. "Hey," the Saiyan spoke, gaining Kaiya's attention. He just grinned at her before asking, "Want to help me get some fish for dinner? If Cooler really is coming, we'll need to have all of us at top energy."

"Sure," Kaiya replied, smiling back. She still felt horrible, but at least fishing would be a welcome distraction. "What do you need me to do?"

* * *

Gohan was sitting on some rocks watching Krillin prepare some stew. Oolong and Icarus surrounded them, also watching the human cook. "Now all we need is for Goku and Kaiya to come back with the fish. Gohan, mind getting some more wood for the fire?"

"Okay!" the child chimed before hopping off his stone seat. He did as he was asked, chopping the long piece of wood into elegant little rectangles. As he carried the wood back, and as his father and Kaiya had secured the fish, all three Saiyans sensed a shift in the air around them. The abrupt change had startled Kaiya, but put Goku on the alert. Gohan, bringing the wood back, heard a rustle and instantaneously became battle ready.

Even Krillin had heard the sound of a splash and stood up as the little dragon began to screech in warning. In the moment where they were trying to detect the enemy, a large, green alien appeared behind Gohan and grabbed the half-Saiyan by his tail, draining away his energy. Krillin attempted to warn Gohan, but was knocked out by another soldier.

The sight of Gohan being swung around by his tail and three PTO soldiers messing around their campsite were what Kaiya and Goku returned to find. "Hey!" Goku called out, directing the soldiers' attention to him and Kaiya.

Kaiya gasped when she saw Gohan in the hands of the green one. "Let him go! Now!"

The green soldier simply laughed at the fact that he was being ordered. Instantly, though, he noticed the girl's tail bristling from her immense anger. For a moment, it looked like small flames danced around her fists. "What do we have here?" the alien questioned, clearly amused by the two in front of him.

"My name is Goku. These are my friends."

Instantly, the blue soldier with blonde hair stood up and dropped the pot of stew he had pilfered. "Goku? This is the Saiyan we've been looking for, the one who defeated Lord Frieza."

"You're Frieza's men?" Kaiya whispered in shock. She could have sworn she had been sensing Cooler and not more of Frieza's lackeys. No, that couldn't be right.

"You don't say," the green one murmured, not having heard the girl's weak voice. He ended up tossing Gohan aside, prompting Kaiya to go check on the child. "Let's kill him."

The brownish-red alien cackled saying he wanted to kill the one who killed Frieza. Clearly, they had no idea that Goku hadn't killed the tyrant. They must have been pretty out of the loop. Either that or they just assumed he did since he was the one who defeated Frieza on Namek.

Salza saw Kaiya moving from the corner of his eyes. "Neiz, grab her."

Swiftly, the brownish-red one moved in order to intercept Kaiya's trajectory, but she was used to such speed. Hiei was much faster than anyone she had ever seen, and he had trained her to use speed to her advantage. She managed to evade the alien, grab Gohan, and swiftly launch herself away from the alien as the other two moved to attack Goku. "You okay, kid?" she asked.

"Yeah, fine," Gohan replied.

"Good," she said before placing him in the top of a tree. "Stay here."

Gohan just watched as Kaiya moved to assist his father and quickly shook off the tingly feeling that remained after having his tail grabbed. His eyes narrowed at the group of aliens attacking his father and friends. He went against Kaiya's small order and entered the fray. Of course, he noticed Krillin still knocked out and raced to try to wake him up.

Watching the way Goku fought was impressive. He was able to take all three aliens on at the same time. Kaiya was stunned. She didn't really think she could ever fight that way. Her only battles against multiple opponents involved other people on her side. She had never taken on multiple opponents alone. Kuwabara's words rung in her head. _"One on one. That's how real men fight."_ Well, they weren't really dealing with real men. They were dealing with cold-blooded killers that worked for the Arcosians.

Kaiya inserted herself into the middle of the fight, helping Goku take on the multiple opponents. They deflected some hits from their opponents and managed to push them back with the force of their aura. In that time, Goku sent a ki blast at all three of the fighters at once that was immediately blocked. "Duck down," he ordered as the three came at them.

Kaiya did as she was instructed and looked up at the three. They were all about to attack Goku again, but she saw an opening and sent a spiral of fire up at the green guy. His attention turned to her, about to fly towards her when Goku took the distraction as an opening to jab the alien in the collarbone, temporarily stunning him.

Salza sent a blast towards Goku, but the Saiyan instantly deflected it towards Neiz. The alien contorted his head down, narrowly avoiding the blast. That was when all five fighters landed on the ground, staring each other down. "You okay?" Goku questioned his partner.

Kaiya was breathing a bit heavy. She had never fought someone so intensely before, not even Jiro. "Yeah, f-" The sound of someone touching down made her blood run cold, her chest tightening with fear. "No…" she breathed out.

Goku's attention shifted as well, and he too was surprised seeing as he had just been warned of Cooler's arrival minutes before.

"Sir," Salza called out, also seeming very surprised along with his allies, "we didn't expect you to come here."

Both Kaiya and Goku turned around to see Cooler standing proud and tall in the river with a smirk on his face. _How is he here so soon?_ Kaiya thought frantically while at the same time Goku was taking in Cooler's similarities to Frieza. "I'm coming, dad!" they heard Gohan call. Their attention turned towards the sky.

"Gohan!" Goku shouted to his son. "Go back! This isn't the best place for you right now!"

Cooler looked towards the little boy. "This isn't the best place for anyone right now," he stated sternly before shooting pink ki from his eyes to attack the child.

Goku instantly threw himself towards his kid, getting shot in the back in the process, but he managed to shoot a blue beam at Cooler. Unfortunately, the Arcosian deflected the attack towards the water.

"Kakarot!" Kaiya exclaimed before she attempted to fly towards her friend. Before she could even move, her arm was grabbed by Cooler roughly. "Erk!"

The Arcosian held her in the air by her appendage, nearly crushing her bones. She had to grit her teeth so as to not scream out. Thankfully, she was used to torture worse than a crushed bone. She guessed she had her father and Jake to thank for that. "A female Saiyan," Cooler pondered. "Didn't think there were any of you left." He took in all of her features. "Your coloring is off, so that would mean you're only part Saiyan."

 _Don't figure it out,_ Kaiya mentally pleaded. She didn't want her father's sacrifice to be in vain. _Please, please…don't figure it out._

Just then, Kaiya felt Goku's and Gohan's ki heading straight for the fall down the stream. She attempted to get away, but Cooler held her firmly in place. "Let me go!" she demanded. "I need to get them."

"I don't think you understand your position right now," Cooler replied darkly. "I intend to leave no Saiyan alive." To prove his point, Cooler took off into the air, holding Kaiya like a rag doll as she tried to use her flames on his hand hoping she'd cause enough pain for him to release her. He was undeterred and shot a yellow ray towards the water below the fall, in attempts to destroy the full-blooded Saiyan and his son. "There. That should take care of that."

"You're a monster," Kaiya growled. "Why are you attacking us like this? We've done nothing to you."

"I take it that monkey is your father," Cooler guessed.

Kaiya's face expressed shock. Cooler thought it was shock from him figuring it out, but her shock came from the fact he had thought Goku was her father. She had even called the Saiyan by name. _Don't correct him,_ she heard Goku's thought enter her head. His mental voice sounded exhausted, but the fact that she was hearing him made her feel relief.

 _You're okay,_ she voiced, shocking the Saiyan. _Um…yeah, welcome to the world of telepathy. I was able to detect your stray thought. Where are you?_

"Heh heh, two Saiyans dead," Kaiya heard the green alien jeer. "The universe is a better place because of it."

 _Oh, that's it!_

Kaiya finally managed to escape Cooler's hold, his grip having slacked slightly. She instantly charged the green alien, getting a few punches and kicks in before sending a pink blast of ki towards him, mimicking the motions of some of her brother's techniques. The green soldier had been stunned by the display and couldn't avoid the blasts.

"Dore!" Neiz called before his attention shifted to Kaiya.

The demi-Saiyan was glaring at the spot she had just attacked, waiting to see if this Dore would walk out of it. She sensed an incoming attack and evaded it shifting her body forty-five degrees. She saw an incoming barrage of ki and used her speed to dodge each blast.

She wasn't expecting Cooler to grab her from behind, his arm nearly crushing her windpipe. She coughed from the wind being knocked out of her, but she managed to try to pry his arm off of her…unsuccessfully.

By this point, the smoke had cleared from her energy attacks. Dore was fine. "Don't assume they're dead, Dore," Cooler admonished. "Someone who could survive a direct hit from my death ray can survive a little swim. Fine him and kill him. I will handle this one."

"Sir!" his soldiers saluted before they took off to find Goku.

"Now," Cooler sneered at the struggling girl. "Where were we?"

* * *

Vegeta woke up in a cold sweat. He had been training late that day, and now it was night on the planet on which he was residing. Out of nowhere, he felt immense terror. He had not felt that feeling since he had stood face to face with Frieza on Namek. It was strange, though, because he did not dream nor had he battled anyone. Instead, he had worked himself to his ki energy reserves were deplenished. He had still been blocking Kaiya out, though some of her thoughts trickled through. He realized that the terror was coming from her and that she was forcibly trying to break his mental block. Kaiya had never done that before, never demanded attention from him. He decided to see what had the girl so horrified, and his shock betrayed him.

"He's already there," Vegeta murmured. He had known that Kaiya had sensed Cooler's imminent arrival, but the girl hadn't known where Cooler was in the universe. Apparently, he had been right on top of them. But, Vegeta had already reasoned that he was going to let Kaiya and Kakarot handle Cooler on their own. Once he allowed her into his mind, though, Vegeta realized that might have been a bad call.

Cooler had Kaiya in his grasp and Kakarot was nowhere to be seen. _"You Saiyans are a pain in my side,"_ Cooler growled. _"Did you honestly think you could get away with attacking my men without repercussions?"_

" _You attacked my friends,"_ his sister countered. _"You went after a child. The only reason you even hit Kakarot was because he was trying to save his son."_

" _Yes, your father went to protect the kid,"_ Cooler replied, shocking Vegeta. Jiro was dead, and Cooler should have no idea who Kaiya was. Why was he mentioning her father? Unless… _"He must have figured his daughter could handle more, meaning he's confident in your skills as a fighter."_

* * *

Kaiya opened her mouth to retort, but she clamped it shut. She had to continue to let Cooler think she was Goku's daughter. Of course, she wasn't, but he didn't need to know anything about her other than she was a Saiyan. "You don't seemed to be bothered by his faith in me," she remarked. "You don't see me as a threat."

"The Saiyans are nothing more than a nuisance. By the end of the day, you will all be wiped out."

"Whatever you say," Kaiya muttered. She needed to keep Cooler talking as she charged an attack. She had recently figured out that her flames were much more effective when she built them up. It wasn't effective as a quick attack, but it would have enough strength to get out of Cooler's grip again. She needed to find Goku and Gohan, make sure they were okay. Krillin and Oolong seemed to disappear, too. _Good, they must be with them._

"Your attitude doesn't add up," Cooler stated, stunning Kaiya, though she managed to keep charging her spirit energy. "I can sense your fear, yet you are acting like you don't take me seriously. Your father seemed to take my appearance seriously, but you…you're acting as though you're in control. I've only seen that attitude in one other Saiyan…"

 _Shit!_ Kaiya mentally screamed. She hadn't meant to act indifferent. She was just concentrating. But her attitude did come off a lot like her mate's and brother's, as if she was trying to play off that she was, in fact, in enemy hands. "You aren't related to the earth-raised Saiyan, are you?"

Kaiya said nothing, but her silence was all Cooler needed to confirm. He couldn't help but chuckle menacingly as he connected the dots. "Somehow, you're related to the Saiyan prince."

It was that moment that Kaiya chose to release her stored flames and escaped Cooler's hold. The flames formed a wall, blocking the demi-Saiyan from view. When they cleared, Cooler realized that the female was nowhere to be found. He frowned in displeasure, but took to the skies. When he found the princess, she would be dead.

* * *

Hiei stopped mid-punch as he ended his series of punches and kicks to a wooden spire. His attention was directed elsewhere. "Hey, Hiei," Yusuke called out. "What's up?"

"Son of a bitch," the fire demon snapped.

"Hey, guys," Kuwabara greeted as he came outside to resume his training. The second his foot touched the ground, he sensed the same thing Hiei was. "H...Holy crap," he murmured. "What the hell is that?"

"What the hell is _what_?" Yusuke snapped. "I swear, between Mr. Moody Fire Demon and you being sensitive, you certainly don't share with the rest of the class."

"You should feel it, too," Hiei retorted. "I taught you how to utilize your ki and sense others. If you had gotten a handle on it, you'd know."

Yusuke flashed the fire demon a heatless glare. "Whatever," he griped before he stretched out his senses. When he did, his stomach dropped. "What the…guys, is that…?"

"Kaiya's energy was close to him a second ago, but she just vanished," Kuwabara gasped. "You don't think…"

Hiei shot out of there faster than anyone had ever seen him move. He started off in a sprint before his ki launched him into the air. He focused on Kaiya's energy, thankful that his wife was alive. She was keeping her ki low, most likely to avoid being detected by scouters if Cooler possessed the object. He could visually see her running through the forest nearing a cave where Goku and the others were. It wasn't the safest place, but she was safe for now.

He hoped he'd get there in time before she had to face Cooler once more.


End file.
